Ishan Kishan declined the BCCI’s directive to participate in the Ranji Trophy due to personal reasons, which have now been disclosed.

Ishan Kishan has spoken out about his decision to take a break from international cricket and skip domestic matches, which led to his exclusion from the Indian team. Kishan’s last appearance for India was during the third T20I against Australia in November last year. Although he was selected for the subsequent South Africa tour, he opted out of the Test series citing personal reasons. Following this break, Kishan also chose not to participate in the Ranji Trophy matches, resulting in his removal from the BCCI’s central contracts list.

Rahul Dravid, who was the head coach of India at the time, suggested that Kishan needed to feature and perform in domestic cricket if he wanted to make a comeback.

Addressing the criticism he faced for skipping domestic matches, Kishan explained that he was not mentally prepared to play Ranji Trophy games.

“I took a break, which I believe was normal. There’s a rule that to make a comeback, you must perform in domestic cricket. It’s as simple as that. At that time, playing domestic cricket didn’t make sense to me. Mentally, I wasn’t in the right space after taking a break from international cricket. It wouldn’t have made sense to take a break from international cricket and then immediately play domestic matches. Then I might as well have continued playing for India,” Kishan told to Indian media.

Kishan also expressed his disappointment at not getting enough playing time despite performing well.

“It was tough. I can’t say everything was fine. It wasn’t easy for me at all. You go through a lot. I was questioning myself, wondering why this happened to me, why me. All these things came to my mind while I was performing,” he added.

Following his absence from the South Africa tour and the Ranji Trophy, Kishan returned to action during the Indian Premier League earlier this year. However, he scored 320 runs from 14 innings at an average of 22.85 and a strike rate of 148.83. Consequently, he was not selected for the T20 World Cup squad, with Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson chosen as the two wicketkeepers.