(Cricket news) The India head coach, Rahul Dravid opens up on the return of Ishan Kishan to the Indian squad post India’s win over England at Vizag. Rahul at the press conference post India’s victory addressed the issue regarding the Indian wicket-keeper batsman and said that – ‘the choice is his’

Ishan Kishan was a part of the Indian squad for the T20I series and the test series Against South Africa which concluded last month. Ishan did not get a chance to feature in the T20I series against the Proteas as Jitesh Sharma took the role of the wicket keeper. He however was India’s first-choice wicket-keeper in the Tests, but opted out of the series stating personal reasons

Ishan was not available for selection for India’s ongoing teat series against England at home and neither did he feature in any of the Ranji games for his state team Jharkhand. K.S Bharat has taken the role as India’s keeper-batter in his absence, which Dhruv Jurel has been picked as a backup option for the series.

When asked about the situation after the Visakhapatnam Test win, Dravid said, “There’s a way back for anyone and everyone. It’s not that we rule out anybody from anything. I just don’t want to go on labouring about the Ishan Kishan point. I’ve tried to explain it as best as I can. The point was that, you know, he requested a break. We were happy to give him the break and whenever he was ready… I didn’t say he has to play domestic cricket. I said, whenever he’s ready he needs to play some cricket and come back, and the choice is his.

“We’re not forcing him to do anything and we are in touch with him. It’s not that we’re not in touch. We know what it is, but he hasn’t yet started playing, right? So, at the moment, it’s not something that we would consider because, you know, he’s maybe not ready. He decides when he wants to be ready and we’ve got options obviously with Rishabh injured and stuff. So I’m sure the selectors will weigh all the options.”

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