Former South African captain AB de Villiers opened up on Ishan Kishan’s absence from international cricket. Kishan was part of India’s 2023 ODI World Cup campaign at home and even took part in the five T20Is versus Australia, held shortly after the mega event. He, however, has not appeared for the national side since withdrawing from India’s Test series against hosts South Africa, in December-January, citing mental fatigue.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!A lot has been said and written about Kishan’s absence as the keeper-batter hasn’t featured in the ongoing home Tests versus England as well. Moreover, the BCCI, the Indian team management and cricket pundits have been a little critical of the 25-year-old for his absence from domestic red-ball cricket.
Recently, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah stated that it was compulsory for centrally contracted Indian cricketers to play domestic games when asked by the selectors. Thus, De Villiers opined on Kishan’s unavailability and feels there needs to be ‘proper communication’ between the star batter and the Indian cricket board, emphasising that there is a way back for everyone.
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Speaking on his YouTube channel, De Villiers said, “Very interesting scenario there in India and I have been through this quite a bit throughout my career as well. It is a very tricky situation. Players trying to manage their careers, and rightfully so, but the difficulty around this is that there are a lot of T20 leagues around the world, IPL, and it’s taking up a lot of attention…of the player’s focus is on that.”
The 39-year-old veteran believes that Kishan’s decision to take time off is a call based on basic human instincts.
“Guys, you do run out of energy, and once you run out of energy, you tend to go in your defensive mode and into a shell where you look after what you feel is important to you, and that’s a human reaction,” De Villiers further opined.
He added, “So, whether Ishan is doing it wrong or other players are doing it right or wrong, I do not know but what needs to happen is proper communication. So, the players know exactly what, not only proper communication but proper and regular communication.”
Following India’s 106-run win in the second Test versus England, in Visakhapatnam, head coach Rahul Dravid stressed that Kishan has the ability to decide when he wants to return to the Indian squad, indicating that the youngster needs to play some cricket to regain his spot.
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