So much so for the BCCI directive. Ishan Kishan has decided to skip Jharkhand’s final group league game in the Ranji Trophy, against Rajasthan. This, despite Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, asking the centrally contracted players to turn up for domestic red-ball cricket unless they are part of the Indian team or doing their rehab at the National Cricket Academy. Kishan is said to be spending his time at Kiran More’s academy in Baroda.
Kishan is not a case in isolation though. Deepak Chahar and Shreyas Iyer, too, are not featuring in the last round of the Ranji matches that started on Friday. Chahar is doing his training in Chennai, while it is not known if Iyer, who has been dropped from the Indian team for the last three Tests against England, is carrying an injury.
On Friday, as Jharkhand were all out for 188 in the first innings against Rajasthan in Jamshedpur, Kishan’s name was conspicuous by its absence from the team sheet. A day prior to the match, a Jharkhand State Cricket Association official told RevSportz that they were yet to hear from the player with regards to his availability in domestic cricket.
The 25-year-old had returned from India’s tour of South Africa in December-January for reasons not related to cricket. Since then, he has gone AWOL. RevSportz earlier reported how the Indian team management’s decision to play Jitesh Sharma ahead of him in the white-ball leg of the South Africa tour didn’t go down well with the left-hand batter.
Only a couple of days ago, Shah officially directed all centrally contracted cricketers to play red-ball domestic cricket. “I have already informed everyone over the phone and will write a letter tomorrow; if the chairman of the selection committee, your captain and your coach ask you to play red-ball domestic cricket, you have to play it,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the renaming ceremony of the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. “We will not take any excuse from the young players who are fit, who can take the rigours of multi-day cricket.”
He added: “I won’t single out anyone. This is a message to everybody. Everybody has to play. Else, the chairman of selectors has the free hand to take a call.”
But Kishan and some other cricketers have seemingly chosen to show defiance, and it would be interesting to see if the BCCI considers this as insubordination. To put things in perspective, though, Kishan has a Rs 15.25 crore IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. Chahar gets Rs 14 crore from Chennai Super Kings, while Iyer, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain, gets Rs 12.25 crore for plying his trade in the world’s most popular T20 league.
Kishan’s recent behaviour, however, has surprised those who have seen him at close quarters. “He has always been a team man,” a JSCA official told RevSportz. “As the captain of our Ranji team, he gelled very well with the squad. A very affable and approachable person, he maintained a good relationship with the seniors and looked after the juniors. I can’t say Ishan has an attitude problem.”
Taking on the BCCI is not a smart thing to do, unless a cricketer has shed his aspirations to play for India. Or maybe, there’s a genuine case of mental fatigue. Whatever it is, there’s more to the whole Kishan saga than meets the eye.