Indian management wants players to priortize playing domestic cricket - Reports

The Indian Cricket Board seems to be unhappy with Ishan Kishan not playing in the ongoing season of Ranji Trophy. He has been out of the game since being rested in November last year. Kishan pulled out of the Test series in South Africa and didn't play in the white-ball games. Not to forget, India head coach Rahul Dravid once stated that the wicketkeeper needs to play domestic cricket.

Meanwhile, the former India U19 skipper was confirmed by Kiran More to be practicing at his academy with the Pandya brothers. Hardik Pandya is also out of the game since the middle of the ODI World Cup 2023. Witnessing all of this, the board is looking to order players to play domestic cricket before participating in the IPL 2024. Both Pandya and Kishan will play for Mumbai Indians with the former being named as captain.

“In the next few days, all the players will be communicated to by the Board to play for their state team in the Ranji Trophy, as long as they are not on national duty, with only those who are unfit and recovering at the NCA being granted an exemption,” a source in the know was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Meanwhile, after the ongoing five-match Test series, India won't play international cricket before the T20 World Cup 2024 in June this year, co-hosted by the USA and Caribbean islands.

Mumbai Indians squad for IPL 2024

Retained Players: Akash Madhwal, Arjun  Tendulkar, Hardik Pandya, Dewald Brevis, Ishan Kishan, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, N. Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Romario Shepherd (T), Shams Mulani, Surya Kumar Yadav, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod

Signed during the auction: Gerald Coetzee, Nuvan Thushara, Dilshan Madushanka, Anshul Kamboj, Naman Dhir, Shreyas Gopal, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma