Earlier this year, Ishan Kishan hogged the headlines for not being included in the BCCI central contracts list for the 2023-24 season. He lost the annual contracts after failing to adhere to the board's mandate of playing domestic cricket when not on national duty.

Notably, the wicketkeeper-batter had withdrawn from the Test series in South Africa last December, citing personal reasons. Since then, he has not been picked in any of the Indian squads.

Meanwhile, a recent report published in PTI claims that Kishan might make his return to the national side with India's tour of Australia in November.

According to the report, Ishan Kishan, who is leading Jharkhand on his return to domestic cricket this season, is set to feature in two four-day matches against Australia A, as well as an intra-squad fixture with the senior team.

The two four-day games between India A and Australia A will be played at McKay (October 31-November 3) and MCG (November 7-10).

While BCCI is yet to unveil the squad, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhimanyu Easwaran are the leading contenders for the captaincy role.

Easwaran has been in fine form in domestic cricket lately, hitting four consecutive centuries across three different first-class tournaments.

His prolific run started in the second round of Duleep Trophy in mid-September, where he slammed an unbeaten 157, before scoring 116 in the third round. He carried the form in Irani Cup to score 191, and followed it with a valiant knock of 127 in Bengal’s Ranji Trophy opener.

Considering his purple patch, Easwaran might be called as a back-up opener in the Indian team with skipper Rohit Sharma set to take a break during one of the first two Tests against Australia due to personal reasons.

India A’s likely squad for Australia tour:

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, B Indrajith, Abishek Porel (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Mukesh Kumar, Ricky Bhui, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Manav Suthar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Tanush Kotian, Yash Dayal.

(With PTI Inputs)