India's explosive wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has been absent from Team India after asking for a break before the home T20I series against Afghanistan. While there have been speculations about Kishan's absence, the 25-year-old is currently training in Baroda at the Kiran More Academy.
As per a report by Cricbuzz, Kishan has been training at the Reliance Stadium for the past couple of weeks. Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya and his brother Krunal have been training alongside him as well.
Kishan has not played a single game since the T20I series against Australia. He got out for a five-ball duck in the final T20I of the series. Kishan travelled with India to South Africa but asked for a break midway and made himself unavailable for selection for the T20I series against Afghanistan. He was not named in the Test squad against England and Srikar Bharat was named the wicketkeeper-batter.
Kishan not following Dravid's advice?
Meanwhile, India head coach Rahul Dravid had made it clear that Kishan should play some cricket to be considered for national selection. However, he will not turn up for Jharkhand in their next clash against Haryana starting February 9.
"I just don't want to go on labouring about the Ishan Kishan point. Whenever he is ready, I didn't say he has to play domestic cricket, I said whenever he is ready... he needs to play some cricket and come back. The choice is his. We are not forcing him to do anything. We are in touch with him,” Dravid said.
"We know what it is. He hasn't yet started playing, right? At the moment, it's not something that we would consider. He is maybe not ready. He decides when he wants to be ready.”
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet to announce India's squad for the remaining three Tests.
Kishan's numbers in previous IPL season
If Kishan does not feature in the Test series against Ben Stokes-led England side, he will be seen in action in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL) for MI. In the last season, he had scored 454 runs from 16 matches at an average of 30.27. He scored three half-centuries and scored at a strike rate of 142.77.
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