The omission of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from India’s T20I squad to face Afghanistan has been a point of intrigue among the fans and experts.
Three days ago, the BCCI announced the squad that will host Afghanistan for 3 T20Is. It marked the return of Rohit Sharma, returning also as a captain, and Virat Kohli in the shortest format after a gap of over 13 months.
Interestingly, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were not part of the squad. Both were part of the World Cup 2023 squad. Then against Australia in the T20I series, Kishan cracked two half-centuries and Iyer one. Iyer was also the vice-captain in the couple of T20Is he played against the Aussies.
Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma are picked as the wicket-keepers for the Afghanistan T20Is, while Tilak Varma has retained his spot and Shivam Dube makes his return in the T20I scheme of things with Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav injured.
Why Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are not picked for Afghanistan T20Is?
It has been reported that the BCCI is punishing them for disciplinary reasons. According to a report in the Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika, the BCCI is angry at Ishan Kishan for taking leave from the South Africa Test series, but he appeared on KBC show.
With Shreyas Iyer, it has been learned that he expressed reluctance to play in Ranji trophy when the BCCI asked him to because of his struggles in South Africa. But now, Iyer has agreed to play a game in Ranji trophy for Mumbai before the Test series against England.
Mumbai will play Andhra Pradesh from January 12 and Iyer will be part of the game. Some had initially felt that Iyer was “rested” from the T20Is against Afghanistan, but now reports suggest the BCCI wants him to improve his red-ball game ahead of the Test series against Ben Stokes’ team.
With Ishan Kishan, the doors of the T20I team could be closed if Jitesh Sharma or Sanju Samson does well in the finisher’s role, something Kishan is not accustomed to.
