BENGALURU: There's this perception that Ishan Kishan isn't too fond of red-ball cricket. It was one of many things he addressed during a 10-minute interaction after leading East Zone to an innings win over North East Zone on Day Three of their Duleep Trophy quarterfinals at the BCCI's CoE premises on Tuesday.
"I think people don't believe me when I say that, but I'm very being very honest, I really do enjoy red-ball cricket," he said. "I enjoy it because when you are in the middle, the ball is moving, there is banter going on with the other team. It's always fun to be part of it because I love that challenge... the competition which goes on in Tests is of a different level."
In a parallel universe, the southpaw, whose red-ball game before this week was almost a year ago, could have been the man behind the stumps for the Test team. Of course, right now, he's in the queue but there was a time when he was one of the first cabs of the rank when the BCCI grappled with a succession plan after Rishabh Pant's injury. With KS Bharat not inspiring a lot of confidence, Kishan made his debut in the West Indies.
Three years later, it remains the only Tests he has played. These days, there's Pant himself, Dhruv Jurel (playing as a specialist batter) as well as KL Rahul, a specialist batter who has also kept wickets post Kishan's debut.
Even though the route back to India whites isn't a straightforward one for the 28-year-old from Jharkhand, he hasn't given up the dream. "Anyone who has played Test cricket would love this format," he said. "For us youngsters, when we are playing domestic cricket, we know the importance and how it helps you get better. You want to play, you want to win for the team."
While he called both Dhruv Jurel and Pant as his 'competitors', he was effusive in his praise of the two keepers currently above him in the pecking order. "Dhruv is doing so well, Rishabh is doing so well. They are scoring. At the same time, I am very happy for both of them as well, being a competitor as well. I am very happy that they are scoring, end of the day India is winning, we are in the good books. So we understand everything, but at the same time my job is to not think about what can go wrong for them. My job is very easy... to just keep getting better. If it is there, if it is meant to happen, it will happen. Just keep on doing it. I feel you should just think about getting better and not cry about things which you cannot control."
Control — "controllables and uncontrollables" — was something he kept coming back to. One thing totally in his control that he wants to utilise is learning from Pant the batter. In fact, one of the things he's learning now is to find the fine-leg boundary, a shot Pant likes playing. "I might be thinking about Rishabh's shot which he plays over the fine leg fielder. Maybe I'm trying to get better at that because he's doing it so well. Dhruv, because his timing is so perfect. Maybe I'm looking to get the timing more sorted or whether it's keeping. Both of them are good keepers as well. So, I'm also trying to, you know, get better when I keep in these matches or when I'm practising."
Near the end of the conversation, Kishan, who spared a good 20 minutes after the game to talk to players from the North East Zone, even had a slight epiphany. He conceded that he was maybe 'getting old'. "It's hard to say what I have changed," he said. "I have done anything (smiles). I think I talk more about work than what's normally important. Like, I don't want to just talk about something which is not important and which doesn't matter also in front of someone. Yeah, you can say that (getting old?) actually. But, yeah, it feels good to be this way. I feel anyone who is just complicated here in their head, they should be, like, just talk sensible things and we will be fine."
Over the last year or so, the Jharkhand man, through sheer volume of runs and a voracious appetite for hard work, has earned a recall to both national white-ball teams. A few years after losing his central contract, he has the chance of completing a treble.
Brief scores: East Zone 467 bt North East Zone f/o 111 & 146 (P Jotin Singh 39, Anukul Roy 5/37); North Zone 251 & 222 (Ayush Badoni 50, Nishant Sindhu 44; Shams Mulani 4/78, Tanush Kotian 4/46) vs West Zone 187 & 220/7 in 51 ovs (Musheer Khan 96, Ruturaj Gaikwad 66).
