India wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan is back on the cricket field after spending some time away from the sport.
The 24-year-old is playing for the Reserve Bank of India in the DY Patil Cup 2024 against Route Mobile Limited in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
Off-field controversies
Kishan has been out of action since November last year when he pulled out of the South Africa tour due to personal reasons.
Kishan asked for a short break from international cricket from the Indian team management citing "mental fatigue" as he has been playing non-stop cricket since his debut in 2021.
But he landed himself in trouble after pictures of him partying in Dubai after taking the break surfaced on social media.
BCCI not happy with Ishan Kishan
Kishan then fell out of favour of the BCCI selectors due to his reluctance to play in the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand and instead, went to Baroda to train for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) along with his Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya and his elder brother Krunal.
Notably, Hardik also made his return to competitive cricket in the DY Patil T20 Cup on Monday when he led Reliance 1 to victory over BPCL by 2 wickets.
Shreyas Iyer likely to lead Mumbai
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer will return to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting March 2. Iyer has been named in the squad by the Mumbai Cricket Association after he made himself available for selection.
Iyer had also been avoiding playing domestic cricket and instead, opted to train by himself after getting dropped from the Indian Test squad after the first three games against England.
Question marks over Iyer's alleged injury
The 29-year-old also courted controversy when he pulled out of Mumbai's last two matches citing back injury.
But the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in an email to the BCCI made it clear that Iyer no new injuries when he was there after getting dropped for the last two Tests vs England.
Iyer is likely to replace former captain Ajinkya Rahane, who has been struggling for form in the Ranji Trophy.
