3 reasons why Ishan Kishan shouldn't be part of India's playing XI for the T20I series vs West Indies

Team India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has had a good month so far in the Caribbean.

Kishan made his international red-ball debut during the two-match Test series that kicked off the tour and notched up his maiden half-century in the format in the second contest. He then carried over his good form into the ODIs, recording three consecutive fifties at the top of the order.

It's safe to say that India will want Kishan to continue his good run in the shortest format as well, with the five-match T20I series set to get underway in Trinidad on Thursday, August 3. However, there are a few factors that suggest it might be in the team's best interests to give him a breather.

Here are three reasons why Ishan Kishan shouldn't be part of India's playing XI for the T20I series against West Indies.

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#3 India have an excellent opening partnership in Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal

New Zealand v India - 2nd T20

Ishan Kishan opened the batting in the three-match ODI series, with Rohit Sharma taking a backseat as India tried to figure out their combinations in the lead-up to the World Cup.

It's presumable that India will want to let Kishan make the most of his purple patch at the top of the order by giving him an opening slot in the T20I series as well. However, there's no need to do that, with Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal forming a potent powerplay combination that has barely any weaknesses.

While Gill has come into his own in the shortest format, even notching up a T20I hundred lately, Jaiswal was the pick of the Indian batters in the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). It wouldn't be wise to take either of these batters away from an opening slot and even sillier to drop them from the side.

There is then the option of batting Kishan in the middle order, but...

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#2 Ishan Kishan isn't a great middle-order option, especially with Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma in the mix

Northamptonshire v India - T20 Tour Match

Ishan Kishan hasn't batted in the middle order very often in T20I cricket. In fact, of his 27 innings in the format, 25 have come at the top of the order. The southpaw has batted once at No. 3 and once at No. 6, without any standout displays.

Nevertheless, owing to a role that once shifted him into the middle order for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL, as well as an ODI shake-up that forced him out of the top two spots, Kishan has been in the conversation for a position lower down. He could bat anywhere from No. 3 to No. 5, having done so during the aforementioned scenarios.

However, Kishan hasn't been able to inspire a great deal of confidence in the middle order. The 25-year-old has often gotten stuck at the start of his innings, and his game against both spin and hard lengths has left a lot to be desired. India will thus need to be wary of deploying him in the middle order, especially when they have better options.

Tilak Varma is bound to become an international superstar at the earliest and deserves to make his India debut, while Sanju Samson is a dynamic T20 batter who played a counter-attacking knock in the final ODI. They are also obviously more suited to middle-order roles than Kishan.

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#1 Ishan Kishan hasn't scored a half-century in his last 14 T20I innings

New Zealand v India - 2nd T20

Ishan Kishan might be in good form right now, but his T20I returns suggest otherwise.

Kishan hasn't scored a half-century in his last 14 innings in the format and has crossed the 30-run mark only twice during that period. In those two knocks, the left-hander had strike rates of 116.13 and 127.59. He has also registered four single-digit scores in his last five T20I innings.

Kishan hasn't quite cracked the T20I code yet. While he's bound to do so at some point in the near future, he doesn't deserve a place in the side ahead of the other contenders based on his returns so far.