Ishan Kishan was a notable absentee from the India squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan at home. The BCCI announced the squad for the series on Sunday (January 7).

The historic series, which will mark the first-ever instance of a multi-game bilateral series between the two nations, will be India’s last T20I assignment before this year’s ICC T20 World Cup. The highly-anticipated marquee event is scheduled to be played in June in the West Indies and the United States of America.

With Ishan Kishan out, the selectors have named Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma as the two wicketkeeping options in the squad for the Afghanistan series. The Jharkhand star last played for India during the five-match T20I series against Australia in November. He was also a part of India’s T20I squad for the series in South Africa last month but did not play any game.

Ishan Kishan falls out of favour:

After not playing in the T20Is, Ishan Kishan decided to take a break before the start of the two-match Test series against South Africa, citing “personal reasons”. This recent absence from the T20I squad has added another layer of mystery to the situation.

And according to a report in PTI, all is not not well. The selection committee is already “looking beyond Ishan Kishan” in the T20I format. While the wicketkeeper-batsman took a break from the game due to mental fatigue (as per a report in the Indian Express), the selectors have decided to look for other options in T20Is.

“Ishan wasn’t happy that he was travelling without much game time. He is on a break right now and is vacationing. In any case, selectors are in all likelihood are looking beyond Kishan. It will be interesting if he is picked for England Test series where KS Bharat will be back behind the stumps,” a BCCI source told the news agency.

Ishan Kishan will now be hoping to do well in this year’s IPL to force his way into the Indian team. A poor campaign in the IPL will only made things worse for him.