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Jharkhand cricket team's captain Ishan Kishan arrives at Birsa Munda Airport, a day after the team won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025, in Ranchi, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (PTI Photo)
India’s decision to tweak their strategy ahead of the T20 World Cup has opened a door against all odds for Ishan Kishan. With Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma around and Rishabh Pant waiting in the mix, Ishan was a rank outsider to make the squad. Despite making a record-making 517 runs in Jharkhand’s Syed Mushtaq Ali title triumph, which included a match-winning century in the final, the left-hander still seemed surplus to India’s requirements. That was 24 hours ago, until the selectors and the team management met before the fifth and final T20I against South Africa.
The huge takeaway from that meet up was all parties walked away with a unanimous thought – they wanted wicketkeepers who batted at the top of the order. And as soon as that decision was sealed, the selectors’ only option to offer as a back-up to Samson was Ishan, a player India seemed to have had moved on. Since returning home midway through the South Africa tour after being perennially benched, Ishan had fallen off the pecking order. He was summoned to play domestic cricket, which he ignored and trained alone in Vadodara. Right through the previous domestic season, his form fluctuated and didn’t have numbers to back even in the IPL.
However, since the beginning of this season, a different Ishan has been on display. For a batsman who appeared to bat only in top gear, he showed he could play the situation in red-ball cricket. And on the back of strong performances in Ranji, he carried over that form into the SMAT, where leading a young team, he showed he has come of age. Watching him bat in the Ranji Trophy, former India batsman Robin Singh, who had worked with him in the past at Mumbai Indians, revealed this new version of Ishan isn’t far from knocking the doors again. And two months later, the opening he cherished came when he must have least expected it.
“You make so many mistakes initially in your career and then later you realise the real meaning of experience,” Ishan had told this newspaper on the sideline of the Ranji Trophy. “I do make mistakes, but I understand what the situation demands. When you just focus on being a good human being, everything falls in place,” he had said.
This is what Ishan has been doing off-late behind the scenes. Being part of a Jharkhand side where he is the experienced batsman, he has embraced responsibility without compromising on his attacking intent. In the final against Haryana, it was Ishan who set the tone from the start, which wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by the selectors. Although Samson and Abhishek Sharma are the first-choice openers at the World Cup, in case of an injury or form, Ishan can straightaway walk in as a replacement and ensure India will get the same attacking intent. The decision to go with him also underlines an important message that performances in domestic circuit are not overlooked.
During the Ranji season, Ishan was asked about his goal for the season and if he had his eyes on the T20 World Cup. His response was this: “Whenever I go in with a target, I just do very badly. I just do something which is not important. So, let’s not keep any target this season. Just keep on batting. If you are in the middle, you will get as many runs as you want. That’s the only goal for me.”
It is what he did before the door was opened for him. Ishan’s inclusion means the one to miss out is Jitesh. Having been Samson’s understudy, since the Australia tour he emerged as a first-choice when India were accommodating Shubman Gill. With Gill dropped, and Rinku Singh making the cut, on a day when Ishan got an unlikely call-up, the door shut on Jitesh. As much as Gill’s exclusion, the decision to drop Jitesh is as big. But it is the nature of selection calls, where for no fault of his, the team dynamics warranted his omission.
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