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The past four months has seen him hit a low point in his career but the 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batter didn’t show any scars of that traumatic time-or at least is concealing them well.A bit rusty in the first couple of games, he displayed his wares against a hapless RCB bowling unit. Only time will tell whether he will make the cut for the T20 World Cup, but he has surely thrown his hat in the ring.
When quizzed about his chances, Ishan preferred to be guarded in his response. “About the World Cup, it is not in my hands. I am taking things very easy right now. You have to take one match at a time. One needs to understand that not much is in the hands of the players,” said Ishan.
Adding his sole focus is on “taking one game at a time and however I can help the team”.
The competition for two wicketkeeping spots is getting intense with each passing game. Besides Ishan, there is Sanju Samson, who is leading the Rajasthan Royals well besides putting in some top performances with the bat. Rishabh Pant is fit-again and batting as if he was never away from the field. KL Rahul has had a sedate start to the tournament but we all know of the skills he possesses and it’s a matter of time before he starts cranking it up. Then there is Dinesh Karthik, who is on the verge of retirement but still doing what he does the best-playing cameos in death overs. Dhruv Jurel hasn’t got a chance yet but he is the current Test wicketkeeper. The last T20I series India played against Afghanistan, Jitesh Sharma donned the gloves but he has so far had a below-par outing in the IPL.
Ishan’s world had gone into a tailspin after pulling out of the two-Test series in South Africa due to ‘personal reasons’ in Dec 2023. He skipped domestic cricket despite BCCI’s diktat, was left out of the central contract list and only returned to competitive cricket before the IPL during the DY Patil T20 Cup in Mumbai. When India coach Rahul Dravid was quizzed about Ishan during the England series, he was also clueless about when he will return, adding: “Whenever he is ready, he needs to play some cricket and come back.”
Much later it came to light that he was training with his MI skipper Hardik Pandya in Vadodara. So, what was Ishan upto during his time away from the game? He said he focused on not putting “pressure on yourself”, “figuring out” the controllables and uncontrollable, and showing empathy towards those going through a rough patch. He added: “When you take an off, a lot (of things) gets spoken on social media. What we can do is that if you have taken time out for yourself, use it the best way possible for yourself.”
