Ishan Kishan likely to travel Australia with India A team

Ishan Kishan last donned the Indian jersey in November 2023. The batter later cited mental fatigue and requested for a sabbatical owing to rigorous travel. Later, the BCCI dropped him from the central contract list after he failed to appear in domestic cricket as mandated by the apex board. Subsequently, he smashed a ton against Railways in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25. 

As per reports from NDTV Sports, Kishan might board an Australia flight ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in November. The wicketkeeper-batter will not feature in the senior team but might feature in two four-day Tests against Australia A and an intra-squad match with the senior team.

India A will play two four-day matches at McKay from October 31-November 3 and at MCG from November 7-10. Ishan is currently captaining Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season. The team managed to orchestrate a draw in their first game against Assam. 

Also Read: Sudharsan shines with blistering double ton against Delhi

Speaking of the India A team poised to tour Australia, either Ruturaj Gaikwad or Abhimanyu Easwaran could lead the team. Easwaran scored a brilliant unbeaten 127 against Uttar Pradesh in the second innings and is touted to fill in for Rohit Sharma, who is set to miss the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. 

Easwaran has had a prolific run in the first-class cricket, having scored over 7,500 runs at an average above 50, including 27 centuries and 29 fifties. Since 2020, he has batted in 58 innings and scored 3163 runs at an average of 60.82 with 14 centuries and a double hundred to his name. He has managed to breach the three-figure mark against South Africa A in South Africa, against Bangladesh A in Bangladesh and against New Zealand A in India.

India A's likely squad for Australia tour

Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, B Indrajith, Abishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Yash Dayal