Will Ishan Kishan make Test return? Kishan strenghtens case with Duleep Trophy double century

Ishan Kishan has answered his critics in the most emphatic way possible after he smashed a towering 270 in the Duleep Trophy final against South Zone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

He was dropped from the Indian setup, sent back to domestic cricket and told to earn his place again. And now that the wicketkeeper-batter has responded with a double century, the conversation about a possible Test return feels very much worth having.

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East Zone piled on 708 runs, and Kishan was the man at the heart of it. He'd missed out on big scores in his two previous Duleep Trophy matches this season, but Monday was different.

The surface wasn't particularly challenging for batters, the attack couldn't consistently trouble him, and Kishan made the most of every opportunity on offer.

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Will Ishan Kishan make a Test return?

Kishan has no bitterness about being dropped from the Test squad after a two-match West Indies series in July 2023, and instead, he says he enjoyed it. He believes that playing for India regularly can actually create a comfortable trap that stops players from growing.

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"I went back, had to grind and work hard for about two years. But sometimes, when we play regularly for India, you just keep playing in a flow. You might be a very good player, which is why you're playing for India, but your growth stagnates at a certain point," he said.

Starting from nothing again forced him to raise his standards simply to get noticed.

"When you take a step back and return to domestic cricket, you start from zero again. You start thinking, 'I need to get even better,' because today, there are so many players scoring runs. To get back into the team, your only option is to perform much better than them," he added.

Kishan is clear that it wasn't some technical overhaul that made the difference. The batting, he says, stayed largely the same. What changed was how he thinks between deliveries as he sat with his failures, understood why starts weren't turning into big scores, and then was able to correct that at a slower, more deliberate pace than an international schedule allows.

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"The batting doesn't change that much; it's just the mindset that changes over time. When you process these things and keep working hard, and then make a comeback, you rarely think about things like 'I will smash this, I will hit him like that.' You stay in the moment, taking it one over at a time, or one ball at a time. You remain relaxed and just play," he said.

How did Ishan Kishan handle South Zone's tactical traps in the Duleep Trophy final?

South Zone threw everything at Kishan tactically. When he first came in, they set short-ball traps with heavy leg-side fields. When Tripurana Vijay came on to bowl, just two fielders were placed on the off-side as it was a ploy designed to frustrate him and drag him into something rash.

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Kishan refused to bite and explained his thinking in the middle with a clarity that reflects his evolved approach.

"I was extremely focused because I couldn't afford to gift them my wicket," he said. "When they are trying tactics because the pitch isn't offering much, trying to bait me into doing something rash, that is when I refuse to make mistakes. The longer we drag them out and tire them, the easier it will be for us to score runs later on."

How domestic cricket recharged Ishan Kishan

Two years ago, Kishan's international career looked like it might be over. He was dropped, reportedly had a strained relationship with the management, and his long-term future at the top level seemed uncertain.

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However, the 270 in a Duleep Trophy final, against a South Zone attack containing the likes of Mohammed Siraj, changes the conversation entirely.

What's most striking is that it's not just the volume of runs but also the manner in which it was scored. A Kishan who grinds out 270, refuses to fall for tactical traps, and talks about staying in the moment and playing one ball at a time sounds very different from the batter who was left out.

Test cricket specifically rewards exactly the kind of mental resilience he's describing, and with India building toward the 2027 World Cup cycle and Test series aplenty on the horizon, selectors would be doing themselves a disservice not to take a close look.

His 270 has given them no excuse not to, especially with the New Zealand series and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in close succession.

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