Ishan Kishan declares 'not in that zone' as T20 World Cup return buzzes: 'When you don't see your name...'

Ishan Kishan declares 'not in that zone' as T20 World Cup return buzzes

Ishan Kishan has not donned the Indian colours across formats in the last two years. His previous appearance for the Men In Blue was in November 2023, which was a T20I affair against Australia in Guwahati. Ishan has since been sidelined but the out-of-favour star has kept the performance on in the domestic circuit.

On Thursday, fans witnessed yet another carnage from the 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batter. Ishan, who has led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali final, was unstoppable at MCA Ground in Pune. He played a whirlwind knock of 101 off just 46 balls and in the process knocked six 4s and ten 6s.

Such was his magnificence that the southpaw touched the triple-digit mark with a one-handed six. He took 45 balls to reach the milestone and celebrated the moment in the Pushpa style.

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Ishan's effort were brilliantly complimented by his teammates Kushagra, who blasted 81 off 38 balls (eight 4s, five 6s), and Anukul Roy and Robin Minz. Both returned unbeaten, which was after a solid cameos to push Jharkhand's total to a staggering 262/3 after being invited to bat first by Haryana.

The opposition in response were folded at 193, handing Jharkhand a historic 69-run victory.

Reacting to his snub from the national setup, which has now been by over two years, Kishan as quoted by Sportstar said: "When I was not selected for the Indian team, I felt quite bad because I was doing well. But I told myself that if I am not selected despite this sort of performance, then maybe I have to do more. Maybe I have to make my team win. Maybe we have to do well as a unit."

"It's important that you don't allow frustration to get to you. This is my message to all the youngsters: frustration is something that will take you one step down. At the same time, you need to put in a lot of hard work, believe in yourself, and just focus on what you need to achieve," he added.

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The knock also came at a pivotal time with the T20 World Cup fast approaching. However, Kishan asserted he in a zone, where he's focused on performance than worry about if he'll make the cut for India for the showpiece event, scheduled to played in February-March next year. "I know you fancy your chances a lot of times, and when you don't see your name, you just feel bad about it. I'm not in that zone anymore. I'm not expecting anything," he said with a smile, before adding: "My job is to just keep performing."