Jay Shah has lengthy chat with Ishan Kishan after BCCI contract snub, Hardik smiles in background

Ishan Kishan, who was recently excluded from the BCCI's central contract list, received a comforting chat from secretary Jay Shah on Sunday evening following Mumbai Indians' IPL match. This gesture could be seen as a positive sign for the talented wicketkeeper-batsman.

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The 25-year-old from Jharkhand, who left the South Africa tour last year due to travel fatigue, has shown reluctance towards playing first-class cricket. Despite being approached multiple times by the Indian team management, he did not participate in any Ranji Trophy matches this season.

Instead, Kishan was spotted practicing with his Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya, in Baroda, preparing for the IPL. He even disregarded instructions to play for Jharkhand in their last Ranji Trophy match against Rajasthan, resulting in the loss of his contract.

Although he recently returned to action for RBI in the DY Patil T20 Cup, his re-entry into top-tier cricket began on a shaky note as he was out for a duck against Gujarat Titans.

However, Shah was observed sharing a light-hearted moment with Kishan and national captain Rohit Sharma. While the details of their conversation remain undisclosed, the influential secretary showing warmth towards a cricketer who had fallen out of favor is a positive sign for Kishan.

With Rishabh Pant back in the frame and KL Rahul also expressing his interest in wicketkeeping, Kishan's prospects of making a comeback in the T20 World Cup seem to have diminished in recent months.

To add to that, Sanju Samson has also started off the IPL well while Dhruv Jurel and Jitesh Sharma are also in the mix for the coveted spot in the national team.

But IPL gives Kishan a massive opportunity to make a case with consistent performances with selectors travelling for select games to check on World Cup hopefuls.

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The best part about Secretary Shah's short little conversation was the presence of national captain Rohit, which effectively meant that Kishan would be judged by the yardstick of his performance even though his attitude had come under the scanner in the past few months.

MI batting coach Kieron Pollard also threw his weight behind the embattled opener and said he will come good in the coming matches as he is an "experienced" player within the setup.

"For him, again, he did not score tonight so, we can look at all sorts of different things, but it's a long tournament, he is an experienced guy within our setup and we expect big things from Ishan." "He is in a good space, he has been practising well and has been doing fairly decently, so hopefully within the next couple of games, you can see great performances from him and all of you will continue to laud his brains when he does that," Pollard said.

(With PTI inputs)