At one point in time, Sachin Tendulkar made history by scoring the first ever recorded double century in a ODI game against South Africa and it was thought it could never be done again as that was almost an impossible feat. That ended up being short lived as Virender Sehwag would go on to score one himself followed by Rohit Sharma who did it three times! There would be many others added to that list as the years went by. Nevertheless there’s still only been 14 players to ever score a double century in this format of the game and it should be considered no small feat at all. Ishan Kishan was one of the players on that list when he scored a double century in the 3rd ODI game of the series against Bangladesh on December 10th, 2022. Fans all across the world were delighted, pairing this with his stellar 2020 season in the IPL with the Mumbai Indians. He was a superstar in the making and bound for eternal greatness, something that only a very few in the sport were ever able to touch. Unfortunately Kishan would go on to play only seventeen more games before being asked my management to play more domestic cricket. This would then lead to a bitter situation that caused Kishan’s camp to question their request because they believed he was meeting the standard that was already set for all international players. No deal or compromise was reached and Kishan would end up sitting out for an extended period of time. That “extended period of time” would entail the entire year of 2024 and he’s yet to make any appearance or even be in the mixture of players being predicted to be in the squad for the Champions Trophy this year. An emphasis being on “predicted” meaning no one is bringing up his name at all and even though there may be a glimmer of hope with the squad yet to be determined, it is not a good sign for not just the Champions Trophy but also his future as a international player moving forward. To add insult to injury, he’s form I. The IPL has steadily been decreasing and despite appearing in 14 games for the Mumbai Indians, Kishan put up an abysmal 22.86 batting average in the 2024 IPL season. The Mumbai Indians even decided to move on from him during the time of the auction, which just took place towards the end of November in 2024. A major blow for the franchise as he was once touted to be a huge cornerstone for their future plans.
How can Kishan make his return to international cricket?
Although this question does not currently have a straightforward answer, there are a good number of things he can do to help prove his worthiness to the national selection committee. The first being is to oblige and follow what is being asked of him and in this case it’s to simply play more domestic cricket. Some good news for him on that front is that his original problem did not stem from a dip in performance but rather a lack of playing more cricket. While playing more games can give a better insight into his overall form, it isn’t something that management has indicated could be an issue so far. Secondly, he has to show out in the 2025 IPL season and has to in a big way. There is no magic number for him to hit, but it has to be enough to grab the attention of both management and fans around the IPL not just the Sunrisers Hyderabad (his current team). Last but not least, play overseas and do it as much as possible. India is in a transition period with the t20 format of the game and the test format. Pretty soon it may also be the ODI format of the game and this is primarily because of the departure of senior players like Rohit, Kohli, Jadeja and Ashwin, who just retired in all formats of the game during the Border Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. This can be a blessing in disguise for his career as there will be an active pursuit for the next set of batsman in either one of these formats. On top of that, Rishabh Pant’s lack of consistency is paving the way for guys like Sarfraz Khan, Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel to make their way into the t20 and test formats of the game respectively. If it wasn’t obvious already, all these batsman share one common role and that is of the wickets keeper position, which thankfully Kishan has with him. Many things have to happen before a decision is made but can this time of uncertainty help lift Ishan Kishan’s hiatus away from the Indian team?