There was a clamour for his selection in the Indian playing XI for the WTC final against Australia, but Ishan Kishan seems reluctant about a possible Test career as he opted out of the East Zone team for the Duleep Trophy tournament with a series in the West Indies within a month's time. India skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran will be leading the side, while former India spinner Shahbaz Nadeem will be his deputy.
Kishan's refusal baffles selectors
But the East Zone selectors were baffled when they came to know that Kishan didn't want to play in the first-class tournament, which is being held right before the two-Test series in the Caribbean starting July 12.
"Since he was in the India squad for the WTC final and KS Bharat, the man who kept wickets, is playing for South Zone, we asked Zonal Selection Committee convenor Debasish Chakraborty to tell us if we could select Kishan," an East Zone selection committee member told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"As he is a senior India regular in white ball, he would have got the captaincy. Chakraborty got in touch with Ishan over phone and came back and told us that he is not interested in playing Duleep Trophy. We were not told if he had an injury or not. Just that he doesn't want to play," the selector said.
Saha's honest take on selection
It was learned that once Kishan conveyed his decision, Tripura selector Jayanta Dey wanted Wriddhiman Saha, and he was also contacted.
"To be fair to Wriddhiman, he said that the Duleep Trophy is for India hopefuls. If I am never going to play for India, then it doesn't make sense to prevent a youngster from making a case. Hence, we selected Abhishek Porel, who was the third choice," he added.
There was a minor controversy as Niraj Singh, the representative from Bihar, who attended selection committee meeting, was an administrator and not a former cricketer.
Squad: A Easwaran (capt), Santanu Mishra, Sudip Gharami, Riyan Parag, A. Majumdar, Bipin Saurabh, A Porel (wk), K Kushagra (wk), S Nadeem (vc), Shahbaz Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Anukul Roy, M Mura Singh, Ishan Porel.
