‘Guys Run Out Of Energy’: Amid Criticism From Indians, Ishan Kishan Gets Support From AB de Villiers

While the Indians fans, some former cricketers, and veteran commentators are scrutinizing, even criticising, Ishan Kishan and his decision to take a break from cricket – for reasons not known to the public yet – South African legend AB de Villiers has lent some supporting words, citing his own example.

AB de Villiers had announced his international retirement in 2018 at the age of 34 while he was still at the peak of his career and batting as well as ever; in his retirement video, he said he had “run out of gas” and was “tired”.

For someone who had gone through the strenuous demands required for modern cricketers to play all three formats plus a high-pressure IPL tournament, AB de Villiers emphasises with Ishan Kishan, who has not appeared for a professional game since December.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers said it is an “interesting scenario” with Ishan Kishan and other players who play all three formats, though he acknowledged that Test cricket remains the “ultimate format”.

De Villiers said, “Very interesting scenario there in India and I’ve been through this quite a bit throughout my career as well. It’s 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.

“Very difficult because the ultimate format of the game is still Test cricket and all Test-playing nations really wanna look after the Test format, so there’s a bit of force in all kinds of directions here.

“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.”

Ishan Kishan

Whether Ishan Kishan is doing it wrong or right, I don’t know: AB de Villiers

'Guys Run Out Of Energy': Amid Criticism From Indians, Ishan Kishan Gets Support From AB de Villiers

The iconic RCB cricketer emphasized the important of proper and clear communication between the players, the board, and the team management for problems and issues to be solved.

“So, whether Ishan is doing it wrong or other players are doing it right or wrong, I don’t know but what needs to happen is proper communication. So, the players know exactly what, not only proper communication but proper and regular communication,” the 39-year-old added.

Ishan Kishan, who recently was reported to be training in Baroda with Hardik and Krunal Pandya, is expected to make his return in the IPL.

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