How Ishan Kishan broke into India’s T20 World Cup squad after two years out of contention

How Ishan Kishan lost his India spot

The circumstances around Kishan's last series for India were mired in controversy. He reportedly requested the team management for a break following India's ODI World Cup campaign in 2023, but was picked for the following T20I series against Australia. Reportedly, the reason was that Kishan was mentally drained after regularly travelling with the Indian team, but only occasionally getting first-XI chances.

In December, he went to South Africa with the Indian team and was part of both the Test and T20I squads, but was benched for all three white-ball games. Kishan was subsequently withdrawn from the Test series for "personal reasons" according to the BCCI. That calendar year, he played 30 out of India's 66 international matches.

In February 2024, then-India coach Rahul Dravid said that Kishan had indeed requested a break, and that the team gave it to him. Dravid added that "the choice is his [Kishan's]", for when he would decide to return to action.

Later that month, Kishan and India teammate Shreyas Iyer were both left off the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players for the 2023/24 season. Kishan in particular had reportedly rubbed India's selectors the wrong way when he did not take part in his state team Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy fixtures at the end of that season, and instead was spotted training separately with Hardik Pandya ahead of the IPL.

Since then, Kishan has not been picked for India in any format. The last match he played for the national team was the third T20I against Australia at Guwahati in November 2023.

The road back to the India team

After being dropped from the central contract list, Kishan's form did not improve drastically. That IPL season, he made 320 runs for Mumbai Indians, averaging 23 and striking at 149 in a high-scoring season.

He was available for domestic cricket after that, however, playing the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup; scoring a century in the former. He travelled to Australia with the India A first-class team, and subsequently represented Jharkhand in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy for 2024/25, averaging 32 and 45 respectively, with strike rates of 167 and 128.

Earlier this year, Kishan was re-included on the BCCI's central contract list, in the 'C' category. Iyer also returned in the 'B' category.

In the 2025 IPL, he slammed a century in his first game for new franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, but overall had another decent but unspectacular season, averaging 35 and striking at 152. In June, he played twice for Notts in the County Championship before taking part in three Ranji Trophy games for Jharkhand. Kishan also remained part of the India A setup, and was picked for the one-day games against South Africa A in November.

Perhaps the telling performance came in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Kishan, captain of an unfancied Jharkhand side, led his team to the title as they won nine of their ten games in the tournament. His crowning moment came in the final at the Gahunje Stadium in Pune.

Opening the batting, Kishan smashed his way to a 45-ball century, finishing on 101 off 49 as Jharkhand racked up a mammoth 262-3. That took his run tally for the tournament to 517, making him just the fifth player to score over 500 runs in a season.

At the squad announcement press conference, chief selector Ajit Agarkar remained low-key on Kishan's return: "He bats at the top in white-ball cricket, he's been in good form. He's played before for India, he has a double hundred in one-day cricket, so... look, he wasn't in the Indian team because there was a Rishabh Pant and a Dhruv Jurel ahead of him, two pretty good players. So it's nothing to do with anything else."

The stars aligned for his return as India looked for a wicketkeeper who could open the batting for the T20 World Cup, as a backup to Sanju Samson. With recent runs behind him, and a board that has been vocal about giving importance to domestic cricket, Kishan emerged as the front-runner.

It is unlikely that Kishan will start at the World Cup. But if he impresses in the New Zealand series just prior, or Samson is unavailable at any point, the door may just crack open. Either way, being back in the squad is a start.

Ishan Kishan - Record since his last game for India

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