Irfan Pathan appreciates the selectors for rewarding domestic performance & selecting Ishan Kishan

Irfan Pathan, the champion of the T20 World Cup, feels that the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar deserves a lot of respect for their choice to bring back Ishan Kishan for the series against New Zealand. He went on to say that it was a courageous decision to recall Ishan Kishan instead of vice-captain Shubman Gill, and it paid off.

He praised Indian selectors for making the difficult decision to pass on Shubman Gill and appreciating Ishan Kishan's domestic achievements. The left-hander was a part of the five T20I matches against New Zealand ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup and struck a swashbuckling hundred in the fifth match on Saturday.

The 27-year-old returned to the Indian side after dominating the run-scoring charts in the 2025-26 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). He played four games in the five-game series against the Kiwis, scoring 215 runs at a strike rate of 231.18 and 53.75. Kishan smashed his maiden T20I hundred in the fifth T20I, reaching the milestone only in 42 deliveries.

“The selectors deserve credit for bringing back Ishan Kishan on the back of his domestic performances. They deserve credit because it’s not easy because you drop a player like Shubman Gill and then you draft Kishan, who performed in domestic cricket. He took advantage of that chance and made it count.”

“When these things happen, everything went right for Kishan and selectors deserve equal credit. The way Kishan batted, especially hitting Ish Sodhi for 29 runs in an over – he was all over a senior bowler, who has performed quite well for New Zealand. Kishan worked on his off-side game and it’s noticeable,” said Pathan on his YouTube channel.

Kishan's level of fitness was also commended by Pathan, who also mentioned how he kept wickets following an explosive century. Kishan is unstoppable on flat pitches, according to the former cricket player-turned-analyst, and his true task would be to score on difficult grounds.

"The fitness is also there to see as he kept wickets after scoring a ton and he got an opportunity to peak at the right time. Kishan has told the selectors not to bench him despite Tilak Varma’s return." the 41-year-old said.

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