While there were many who backed Ishan Kishan as the possible X-factor in World Test Championship (WTC) final 2023 against Australia, team management showed faith in Srikar Bharat. It did not turn out to be the best decision as Bharat excelled behind the stumps but failed to make an impact with the bat. On his return to India, Kishan was given a chance to lead East Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2023. But Kishan left selectors stunned when he opted out of Duleep Trophy, a chance to showcase his talent in red-ball cricket and make a case to be preferred over Bharat ahead of the two-Test series against West Indies next month.
"Since he was in India squad for WTC final and KS Bharat, the man who kept wickets is playing for South Zone, we asked Zonal selection committee convenor Debasish Chakraborty to tell us if we could select Kishan," an East Zone selection committee member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"As he is a senior India regular in white ball, he would have got the captaincy. Chakraborty got in touch with Ishan over phone and came back and told us that he is not interested in playing Duleep Trophy. We were not told if he has an injury or not. Just that he doesn't want to play," the selector said.
After Kishan rejected the offer, Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was asked to fill in the wicketkeeper post but he was reluctant as he is unlikely to make a Test comeback.
"To be fair to Wriddhiman, he said that Duleep Trophy is for India hopefuls. If I am never going to play for India, then doesn't make sense in preventing a youngster from making a case. Hence we selected Abhishek Porel, who was the third choice," he added.
As a result, Abhimanyu Easwaran was appointed as captain with veteran left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem as his deputy.
East Zone Squad: A Easwaran (capt), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), S Nadeem (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, Ishan Porel.
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