After the newly appointed captain, Hardik Pandya, opener Ishan Kishan joined the Mumbai Indians camp on Wednesday for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. The wicketkeeper batter underwent a training session under the watchful eyes of Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher.
In a video shared by Mumbai Indians, Kishan could be seen undergoing running drills beside batting practice. He looked in good rhythm during the net practice as he hit some shots out of the park. However, Kishan did not undergo any wicketkeeping drills during his initial practice session with the five-time champions.
“Ishan bolla “Let”s go”, tar 𝙇𝙚𝙩”𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤,” Mumbai Indians captioned the video.
Ishan bolla "Let's go", tar 𝙇𝙚𝙩'𝙨 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤𝙤 🤙💙#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians @ishankishan51 pic.twitter.com/veKeXfZDwA
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 13, 2024
Earlier, Kishan made his return to professional cricket at the DY Patil T20 Cup, a corporate tournament.He was representing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) side against Route Mobile Limited in Navi Mumbai. He kept the wickets for RBI after Route Mobile decided to bat. The wicketkeeper batter played a crucial role as he stumped Route Mobile batter Sumit Dhekale off Sayan Mondal.
However, he could not get going with the bat. He started his innings well, scoring 19 runs off 12 deliveries, which included two boundaries and one six. However, he was dismissed while trying to clear mid-off of a delivery from Maxwell Swaminathan. Chasing a target of 193 runs, Kishan threw away his wicket after getting a good start in the fourth over.
Ahead of the tournament, the wicketkeeper batter was spotted training at the Kiran More Academy in Baroda. It has been speculated that Kishan was not picked up in the national team due to disciplinary reasons. However, there can be no questions asked about his attitude and commitment towards the game as he has been training with the Pandya brothers at the Reliance Cricket Stadium.
The wicketkeeper batter has been out of favor from the national team since November, last year. He departed from the Indian team set up in December and since then has not featured in professional cricket. Team India head coach Rahul Dravid had advised him to participate in competitive cricket if he aims to make a return to the national side but there has been no signs of that.
