'It was not easy for me at all' - Ishan Kishan breaks silence on 'depressing' contract snub

Ishan Kishan has been out of action since he opted out of the South Africa series midway in December 2023. He later missed the Afghanistan series in January 2024 and was subsequently not picked in the squad for the T20 World Cup. He provided mental fatigue as the reason for his sabbatical from the game and was left out of the BCCI’s central player contract in February. BCCI Secretary, Jay Shah, had issued a strict warning for players to indulge in domestic cricket, but Ishan did not abide by it. 

After not being picked in the T20 World Cup squad, he has also been left out of the second-string unit that has travelled to Zimbabwe for a five-match series. As things look grim for the wicket-keeper batter, he has opened up on his exclusion. He added that things went against him even when he was performing well and getting runs.

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"It was depressing. Today I don’t want to say that everything was fine. It was not easy for me at all. You go through a lot. Mere dimag mei ye sab chalta raha ki yaar kya hoga gaya, kyu ho gaya, mere saath kyu (Questions like what happened, why me). All these things happened when I was performing,” said Kishan as quoted by Indian Express.

"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," he added.

It doesn’t make sense to play domestic cricket: Kishan

The southpaw was criticised for not opting to play the red-ball domestic cricket and instead opted for white-ball domestic cricket. He was seen practicing with Hardik Pandya in the Mumbai Indians camp ahead of the Indian Premier League 2024. Shedding light on his decision, Kishan stated that it was not a viable option to have opted out of international cricket and play domestic cricket, while the whole point was to take a break from cricket.

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"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 go and play domestic matches. Fir toh aap international hi khelte (Then I could have continued playing for India)," he concluded.