Former India batter Ajay Jadeja has fired shots at the team management for resting young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan for the last two T20Is of the five-match series against Australia. Kishan showcased impressive form during India's 4-1 series win against Australia, scoring 110 runs from three outings, including two fifties. However, he did not play the last two matches in Raipur and Bengaluru, respectively, with Punjab Kings stumper Jitesh Sharma taking his place. The 25-year-old also played just two matches during the recently-concluded World Cup, having replaced Shubman Gill (out with dengue) for the first two matches of the tournament.
Jadeja feels Kishan, who has an ODI double century to his name, needs regular game time to become a complete player.
"Ishan Kishan didn't even play the entire five-match T20I series against Australia. He was sent home after three matches to rest. So, if this is going to continue, how will you ensure that he is fully ready? ," Jadeja said on Sports Tak.
"He can change the game on his day. When will he get ready? Will you keep him in on trial all the time? In the last two years, how many games has he played? This problem of Indian cricket is not of today, it is very old that we don't select (players) but reject them," he further explained.
With India's tour of South Africa set to kick on December 10, Kishan has been named in the T20I and Test squads. However, he was left out of the ODI team, with Sanju Samson getting a nod over him as the second-choice keeper.
India and South Africa will square off in three T20Is, three ODIs and two Test matches.
India's squad for Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
India's squad for 3 T20Is: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.
India's squad for 3 ODIs: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C)(wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.