Ishan Kishan’s absence from Ranji Trophy continues

PTI, Feb 16, 2024, 11:12 AM IST

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Jamshedpur: Ishan Kishan’s absence from Ranji Trophy continued as the wicketkeeper-batter, who plays domestic cricket for Jharkhand, skipped the final round of matches that started on Friday, a move that will not go down well with BCCI.

Kishan’s reluctance to play first-class cricket and focus only on the IPL forced the BCCI to make a minimum number of Ranji Trophy games mandatory for players in order to be eligible for the cash-rich league’s lucrative auction pool.

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.

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.

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 bottom of 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.