Ishan Kishan on leaving Team India camp, skipping domestic cricket: ‘No one understood my situation’

India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has finally opened up on skipping domestic Ranji Trophy matches for Jharkhand which played a role in him losing the
BCCI central contract
. Kishan, who last played for India in the third T20I of the five-match series against Australia in November 2023, has not been a part of the Team India camp since December 2023. Kishan was part of the India Test squad during the tour of South Africa but pulled out due to personal reasons.

Later it was reported that Kishan pulled out due to
“mental fatigue”
as the Jharkhand cricketer continued to miss the domestic season, which reportedly
irked the Team India management
and BCCI.

Kishan has now revealed that he dropped out of the Team India camp and missed the Ranji matches for Jharkhand because he was not in the “right frame of mind”

“I was scoring runs and then I found myself on the bench. These things do happen in a team sport. But I experienced travel fatigue. It meant there was something wrong, I was not feeling well or right and so I decided to take a break. However, sadly, barring my family and few close people no one understood that,” Kishan said in an interview with the Indian Express.

He added that it didn’t make sense for him to play domestic cricket during his break from international assignments because if he felt alright, he would not have left the India camp in the first place.

“I took a break and I think it was normal. There is a rule that if you want to make a comeback you must perform in domestic cricket. It is as simple as that. Now, it was very different for me to play domestic cricket as it was not making any sense. I was not in a frame of mind to play and that is why I took a break from international cricket. It doesn’t make sense that you take a break from international cricket and then you go and play domestic matches. Fir toh aap international hi khelte (Then I could have continued playing for India),” he added.

After pulling out of the Team India camp in December 2023, Kishan returned to competitive cricket through the DY Patil T20 tournament in Mumbai in February 2024. He also played in IPL 2024 for Mumbai Indians where he scored 320 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 148.84 as MI finished last on the table.