Indian cricketers Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan could be at risk of losing their BCCI central contracts for skipping Ranji Trophy matches.
Kishan took a break midway through the South Africa tour due to personal reasons, citing mental fatigue. On the other hand, Iyer was dropped from the Test team for the last three matches of the ongoing series without a specific reason provided by the BCCI.
Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, recently cautioned centrally-contracted Indian players about prioritizing the IPL over domestic cricket. Despite the warning, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Deepak Chahar have chosen not to participate in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. Reports suggest that both Kishan and Iyer are likely to lose their BCCI central contracts. Iyer was placed in Grade B with an annual earning of INR 3 Crore, while Kishan was in Grade C with an annual earning of INR 1 Crore. The BCCI is expected to announce new central contracts soon, and the reluctance of Kishan and Iyer to play domestic cricket may result in them being dropped from the contract list.
“The selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, have almost finalised the list of centrally-contracted players for the 2023-24 season too, which the BCCI will announce soon. Kishan and Iyer are likely to be excluded from that list, as both haven’t been playing domestic cricket despite the BCCI’s diktat to do so,” a source was quoted as saying by Times of India.
Ishan’s last appearance for the Indian cricket team was back in November 2023, during a T20I match against Australia on home turf. However, in December, when India embarked on their tour of South Africa, Ishan, who was originally set to continue as the wicketkeeper in the Test series, withdrew from the squad, citing mental health reasons.
In the meantime, Kishan has been honing his skills alongside his Mumbai Indians’ captain, Hardik Pandya, in Baroda. Interestingly, he didn’t represent Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy 2024. On the other side, Iyer also had a spell of absence. He didn’t participate in Mumbai’s recent league fixture against Assam in the Ranji Trophy 2024 and was notably absent in the quarter-final clash against Baroda at the MCA Cricket Ground in Mumbai.
Iyer had communicated to the Mumbai Cricket Association that he couldn’t make himself available for selection due to a back spasm. However, adding a twist to the narrative, Nitin Patel, the Head of Sports Science and Medicine at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, revealed in an email to the BCCI and national selectors that Iyer was deemed fit to play.
“Shreyas Iyer was fit and available for selection as per the handover report of the Indian team after the 2nd Test match against England. There are currently no fresh injuries reported as well after his departure from Team India,” Patel wrote in the email.
Jay Shah, the Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), emphasized that centrally contracted and India A cricketers must engage in domestic cricket when not included in the national team. He further added that opting out of the current Ranji Trophy would not be accepted, and cricketers who do not adhere to the newly implemented directive will face serious consequences.
Comments 1