Ishan Kishan makes first public appearance after losing BCCI central contract at Anant Ambani's pre-wedding event

India cricketer Ishan Kishan made his first public appearance on Friday, March 1, in Jamnagar, Gujarat, after the omission of his name from the BCCI's (Board of Control for Cricket in India) central contract list. Notably, Kishan failed to find a place in the list of BCCI’s centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season after purpotedly missing domestic matches.

Following his contract snub, Kishan made his first public appearance for the pre-wedding festivities of his Indian Premier League franchise's (Mumbai Indians) owner Mukesh and Nita Ambani’s son Anant Ambani. Notably, Kishan last played for India in the five-match T20I series against Australia in November where he scored back-to-back half-centuries (58 and 52) in the first two matches of the bilateral series. He further left the Indian squad ahead of the two-match Test series against South Africa, citing mental fatigue.

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While being away from the team, Kishan didn’t feature for his state Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy 2024 and instead, was witnessed training with the Pandya brothers in Baroda. However, his move didn’t go down well with the BCCI as secretary Jay Shah put out a stern warning for players for missing domestic cricket.

Following the incident, the wicketkeeper-batter finally began playing in the DY Patil T20 Cup. Apart from him, batter Shreyas Iyer also faced a contract snub for reportedly missing the Ranji Trophy quarter-final for Mumbai against Baroda. The Mumbai batter had a phenomenal ODI World Cup 2023 scoring 530 runs from 11 innings at an average of 66.25 with three fifties to his name.

Dhoni, Sachin, Rohit also arrive in Jamnagar

Meanwhile, the pre-wedding event of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant is expected to be an opulent occasion attended by several notable Indian and international celebrities and dignitaries. Apart from Kishan, former Indian captain MS Dhoni also marked his presence on the joyous occasion while legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will also be a part of the gala event.

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Indian skipper and former Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was also spotted in Jamnagar to be a part of the special occasion for the Ambani family. In a bid to enhance the event's splendor, renowned international pop artist Rihanna is slated to grace the stage and perform at the event.