Ishan Kishan has his work cut out for him, returning to domestic cricket

After jeopardising his international career by staying away from domestic cricket for most of this year, it seems better sense has now prevailed on Ishan Kishan.

The wicketkeeper-batter has made himself available for the Buchi Babu tournament, the traditional pre-season red-ball tournament in Chennai, which starts 15 August. Kishan will be leading Jharkhand.

Incidentally, Kishan was not on the initial long list of Jharkhand probables! However, he decided to kickstart the season with this tournament after being counselled by the national selectors. The move could be seen as his first step towards integration into the national set-up after he asked to be released from the national squad during the 2023–24 Test series in South Africa.

As a result, he got the cold shoulder from the Indian team management for the last eight months. Kishan was also removed from the central contracts list for not prioritising domestic cricket.

And now, it will be almost like proving himself all over again, since India is blessed with a problem of plenty in Kishan's preferred slot. There's Rishabh Pant staging a successful comeback in the T20 World Cup. There's Dhruv Jurel making a mark in the Tests against England. There are K.S. Bharat and Sanju Samson, both in favour for the ODIs.

Kishan, who kept the wicket in the last World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia in 2023, will do well to focus on the longer version of the game. There are 10 Test matches lined up in the months ahead.

The Buchi Babu Trophy will be followed by the Ranji Trophy, and Kishan has to put his best foot forward there as well.

Media reports, meanwhile, say that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is likely to pick Kishan for the Duleep Trophy, scheduled for 5–24 September, as well. The domestic tournament, which will also feature the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and other India regulars, will play a key role when the selectors sit down to pick the 15-member squad for the Test series against Bangladesh, which starts 19 September (hopefully, things will have settled down for our neighbours by then).

‘’When you take a break, people gossip about it a lot. They say a lot of things on social media,’’ Kishan said a few months back, referring to his time away from the game. ‘’But I feel it’s important to understand [that] not everything is in the players’ hands. We can only make the best use of the break.’’

‘’This is what adopting a good mindset is,’’ he added. ‘’There is nothing like 'I want to prove [something] to someone'. I just have to go there and enjoy [myself]. I have learned that you do not have to add pressure on yourself about these things which are not in your hand.’’