The 28-year-old Ishan Kishan is making full use of the second opportunity in international cricket since his return in 2026. Having made his debut in 2021, the southpaw was in and out of the side on a regular basis. During the 2023 South Africa tour, Kishan was in the news when he requested to be released from the Test squad due to personal reasons.

After two years in exile and also losing out on a central contract, the Sunrisers Hyderabad star eventually came back for the New Zealand T20I series earlier this year. Ishan played four games, scoring 215 runs with a maiden century in the format. This was followed by his 317 runs in the T20 World Cup, which India went on to win. The batter became the world number 1 in T20Is.

Recalling his absence from the side for nearly 26 months, Kishan, in his chat with JioStar, said, “When I was dropped from the Indian team, Irealized a few mistakes that were made from my side. I worked on my fitness, batting, staying patient and rectifying my mistakes by performing in domestic cricket.”

The Jharkhand star scored a brilliant 270 in the Duleep Trophy final for East Zone against South Zone and led his side to the title. Having already returned to the ODI and T20I sides, there are also talks of the Indian cricketer making his return to Test cricket as well.

“I knew if I kept doing well in domestic cricket, Iwould earn a recall to the Test side. When it comes, Ican highlight my hard work. Once you are back in the side, one doesn’t know what will happen next, so it is key to enjoy the game. My job is to keep scoring runs, and the rest will be taken care of automatically.”

Indian star praises Shreyas’ knock vs WI

The Men in Blue won the first T20I game by eight wickets against West Indies, with captain Shreyas Iyer scoriing 102 not out. The next game will be played on Friday in Ishan Kishan’s hometown Ranchi.

He praised Iyer. “As a batter, if I am not in great touch and the batter at the other end is batting well, which in this case was Shreyas, I don’t mind playing the second fiddle. Iyer was doing the bulk of the scoring in our partnership, and he was batting well. It was my job to let him do the scoring, and he did that well. In the end, we completed the chase successfully.”