4 minutes read18 Jun 2026, 06:54 PM IST
Ishan Kishan came in at no.4 against Afghanistan on Wednesday, at a time when both Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal failed to win. What followed wasn’t just a match-winning innings. It was a statement of choice directed at the wrong people.
Nearly four years ago, Kuala Lumpur Rahul He has been India’s undisputed number one wicket-keeper in ODIs. His place has been occasionally discussed in Tests, and he is no longer part of the T20 plans, but in the fifty-over format, he has made the middle order his own. Dropped to number six at Gautam Gambhir’s insistence – a striker’s role, not the most comfortable task for a specialist keeper – he did the job without fuss. Rishabh Pant He never came close to unseating it. Sanju Samson was never looked at seriously. Dhruv Gurel and Jitesh Sharma, ditto. For all the names thrown at Rahul’s place, none of them stuck.
Now, for the first time, Rahul faces real competition in Ishaan. But the player who is sweating is not Rahul.
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Ishan did something similar to Samson before the T20 World Cup earlier this year, forcing his way into a stable side, making the selectors reconsider, and leaving Samson watching from the outside. He’s doing it again in the ODIs, only the consequences reach the top of the order. This time he has three matches against Afghanistan and a full series of matches in England to press the issue.
in LucknowIshan showed something his T20 record has already suggested but his ODI returns have yet to confirm: that he can pace the innings. He made 52 deliveries to reach his fifty, then exploded to 125 off 79, exactly the acceleration the format requires. The technical details were more telling than the numbers. He scored his first boundary off-side only after his fifty – even then, he had been deliberately working through the leg side until he settled into the conditions. when Rashid Khan When he came around the wicket, he adjusted mid-innings, closing his shoulders slightly to open up the off-side and playing inside-out shots. These are not the instincts of the player riding the model. It is the instincts of a batsman who is in complete control of his game.
Indian ODI opener Rohit Sharma. (file photo)
There is a reason for the selectors’ delay in naming the squad for ODI matches in England. They wanted to see with their own eyes where their options stood against Afghanistan, with Ishaan named as a reserve player for the opener. Virat Kohli’s injury has seen Jaiswal reach the top spot alongside Rohit. They both failed. Ishan came in at number four and took the match out. Ahead of the England tour, there are now questions to answer, with only one match to go Chennai It remained to answer them.
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Kohli looks assured at number three. Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel And Rahul follows. Conversation at the top. If Rohit doesn’t get a significant result in Chennai, the selectors will face a real dilemma – although he could still board the plane to England, the remaining matches in this series could be the deciding point. Ishaan’s value to the management extends beyond his batting: he offers a backup keeper, a second slot, and a top-order left-hander who otherwise has nothing to offer. He can be used as a floater in the top four. More importantly, he can be accommodated without dropping Rahul. If Rahul’s form declines, a place at number six will open up for the all-rounder – the options are many.
India want their opening three matches to be settled as soon as possible, giving them maximum playing time in the twelve months leading up to the next World Cup. If Ishan was a last-minute inclusion in the T20 World Cup squad earlier this year, this time he has announced his arrival early. He intends to stay.
