IPL 2024: This will be his chance – Aakash Chopra backs Ishan Kishan to come back strong in upcoming season

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has put his weight behind under-fire Ishan Kishan to prove his mettle in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League 2024 while playing for Mumbai Indians. Kishan was excluded from BCCI contract list for skipping matches for India as well as in the domestic circuit in the Ranji Trophy.

The left-hander has scored 2324 runs in 95 IPL matches at an average of 29.42 and a strike rate of 134.26 and he will be determined to get back in the reckoning by scoring a truckload of runs in the IPL.

Meanwhile, Kishan asked for a break during the South Africa tour due to mental fatigue and it has been reported that BCCI was not pleased with the fact he didn’t made himself available to play in the domestic circuit. Ishan could only manage 19 runs off 12 balls in the DY Patil tournament.

Kishan had a Grade C contract but he was not retained for the 2023-24 season along with Shreyas Iyer.

“Ishan Kishan will be hungry, as he has not got a central contract. This is the only thing he is playing. What else is he playing?” Chopra said in his YouTube video.

“Either he has himself opted not to play, or he won’t be selected now. So this is his chance. If you make the IPL your own, you have chances of going forward. Then there is, of course, Wankhede’s flat pitch. The ball will come nicely onto the bat and go far,” Chopra added.

Kishan had scored 454 runs in 14 matches for Mumbai Indians in the previous season of the IPL and he was the team’s second-highest run-getter after Suryakumar Yadav.

Mumbai Indians, who will be led by Hardik Pandya, will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on March 24.