Playing his first professional red-ball game since the two-Test series against West Indies last year, Ishan Kishan sent out a statement at the Rural Development Trust Stadium "B" in Anantapur, hammering a sublime, counterattacking ton against a strong India B attack consisting of Navdeep Saini, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar and R Sai Kishore among others.
Kishan missed the first round of the Duleep Trophy 2024 due to a niggle, but the 26-year-old, on Day 1 of the second round clash, posted his first-ever ton in the Duleep Trophy. The left-hander walked out to bat at 96/1 and hammered 14 fours and two sixes en route to a rapid ton.
The ton today is just Kishan’s second-ever 50+ score in Duleep Trophy in 10 innings. Prior to the century today, the 26-year-old’s scores in the Duleep Trophy had read 50, 39, 30, 18, 12, 0, 0, 0 & 0, with his average reading just 16.56.
Kishan was the incumbent wicketkeeper of the Indian Test side the last time he played red-ball cricket (July 2023), but he found himself completely out of the Test picture despite hitting a quickfire fifty in his last Test appearance. That was because of his alleged refusal to play domestic cricket, which resulted in him losing his BCCI central contract.
Team India tried as many as three wicketkeepers in the five-Test series at home against England, but Kishan wasn’t one of them. But the 26-year-old is back in the scheme of things again after patching up with the board, evident by him finding himself in the squad for the Duleep Trophy.
Prior to the ongoing Duleep Trophy, he led Jharkhand in the Buchi Babu invitational tournament in Tamil Nadu. There, he posted a superb ton in his first appearance in the competition, scoring 114 off just 107 balls against Madhya Pradesh.
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