Ishan Kishan turned a blind eye to India head coach Rahul Dravid and BCCI secretary Jay Shah's instructions for playing the Ranji Trophy. Kishan, who has been out of action since the beginning of this year, decided not to play Jharkhand's last Group A fixture against Rajasthan at the Keenan Stadium in Jamshedpur that started on Friday. This comes exactly three days after Jay Shah had dropped an indirect but firm message, asking the centrally contracted players to make themselves available for domestic red-ball cricket.
Without taking any names, Shah made the BCCI's stance clear. "They have been informed on phone already and I'm going to write letters as well that if your chairman of selectors, your coach and your captain are asking for it then you will have to play red-ball cricket," Shah told the media.
Reports also suggest that the BCCI are planning to make it mandatory for players to play in the Ranji Trophy to be eligible to play in the IPL.
Ishan Kishan, who reportedly had been requesting breaks ever since the ODI World Cup last year, finally got the approval from the team management ahead of the South Africa Test series. Reports suggested that head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma were not pleased with the timing of Kishan's break.
A clear message was sent to Kishan when the selectors didn't pick him for the Test series against England despite announcing that KL Rahul wouldn't be donning the gloves. Head coach Dravid then said that Kishan needs to play "some cricket" to be considered for selection.
{{/usCountry}}A clear message was sent to Kishan when the selectors didn't pick him for the Test series against England despite announcing that KL Rahul wouldn't be donning the gloves. Head coach Dravid then said that Kishan needs to play "some cricket" to be considered for selection.
{{/usCountry}}The left-hander, however, has remained unaffected. In the absence of Kishan, Kumar Kushagra continued doing wicket-keeping duties for Jharkhand.
Jharkhand, who have only one win and 10 points from six matches so far, are playing Rajasthan at home in their final round. The manner in which Kishan has missed match after match since returning midway from the national's team South Africa tour citing "travel fatigue", hasn't gone down well with the men who matter in the Indian cricket establishment.
Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar decide to give Ranji Trophy a miss
Kishan is not the only player giving the premier domestic tournament a miss. Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer are also missing in action in the ongoing final round of matches that started across venues. Iyer was, however, having issues with his lower back and groin.
These three players -- Kishan, Chahar and Iyer -- were specifically told to play for their respective state teams in first-class cricket.
More so after it was found that he was training in Baroda with his new Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya while his state team languished near the bottom of the group A table in Ranji.
There is a general consensus that a strict policy needs to be adhered to so that a group of young players don't make "playing IPL to IPL" a habit.