'Understood consequences of a few mistakes': Ishan Kishan reflects on journey back to India team

Ishan Kishan, since making a comeback to the India T20I team earlier this year, has been unstoppable. The batter has scored 1,042 runs in 30 matches played in 2026 - only behind Suryakumar Yadav's 1,164 runs in 2022. He recently played in the first T20I against West Indies on Tuesday (Oct 6) in Lucknow and scored an unbeaten 37 as India chased down the 172-run target with eight wickets in hand. Ishan added 137 runs with skipper Shreyas Iyer (102 not out) for the third wicket as India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Kishan explains what helped him make India comeback

The Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter was dropped from the national side across formats in 2023 and only made it back in 2026. The reason for him being dropped was related to discipline and fitness. The batter, after the first T20I against West Indies, spoke to broadcaster JioStar and shared his thoughts on his time out from the national team.

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"When I was dropped from the international team, I understood the consequences of a few mistakes that I had made. So, I worked on my fitness and my batting. I stayed patient and focused on rectifying my mistakes by doing well in domestic cricket. I knew if I kept performing in domestic cricket, the opportunity would come and I earned the recall to the national squad because of my hard work. Once you come back to the side, you don't think about what's going to happen if I get dropped again. The most important thing is to enjoy cricket and just focus on doing the best I can to contribute to the success of the team. My job is to keep scoring runs and if I am able to do that, then the rest will be taken care of automatically," said Kishan.

Kishan in 2026

The batter has been in scintillating form in the ongoing calendar year. Having already scored 1,042 runs in 30 innings and with four more T20Is left in the West Indies series, Kishan is poised to pass Suryakumar Yadav's tally of 1,164 runs in 2022 - the most for India in T20Is in a calendar year.

Kishan has scored his runs at an average of 38.59 and a strike rate of 168 with one hundred and seven fifties, with a highest score of 103. In comparison, Kishan had scored only 796 runs in 32 matches at an average of 25 till 2023 since his debut in 2021.