In the BCCI’s Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season, two prominent players were missing – Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Till very recently, the star Indian cricket team duo was part of the side. While Ishan Kishan was last part of the Test squad during India’s Tour of South Africa, Shreyas Iyer played the first two Tests of the ongoing series against England. Yet, the BCCI removed the two senior player from the contracts list. In fact, the BCCI made it a point to single out the duo’s absence with the following line in the list: “Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations.
So why were Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer dropped from BCCI’s Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season?
Ishan Kishan’s case
While there was no official reason given on why Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped, one line in BCCI’s release gives a strong hint. “The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” the BCCI stated.
When Ishan Kishan had left India’s Tour of South Africa, the BCCI had said: “Mr Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad.”
While it was expected that Ishan Kishan would play domestic cricket from his time away from the national team, the wicketkeeper-batter chose to remain absent from his state team Jharkhand’s Ranji Trophy matches. Despite Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid clearly mentioning that he need to play some form of cricket to regain his place in the Indian squad, Ishan Kishan ignored the instruction.
In fact, he only made a return to competitive cricket on Tuesday at the DY Patil T20 Cup.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah had also mentioned that it is mandatory for centrally contracted players, who are not in the national team, to play red-ball cricket.
Shreyas Iyer’s case
The middle order batter has been battling poor form in Test cricket. He was dropped from the last three Tests against England after failing to leave a mark in the first two games. ”If Shreyas was to be rested because of injury, the BCCI medical bulletin would have had an update. Since there are no updates, it can be concluded that he has got the axe,” a source had told news agency PTI then.
Then Iyer made himself unavailable for Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinals citing injury concerns but the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has said that he has no ‘fresh injuries’, according to a report by Indian Express. The report cited an email from Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the NCA, who told selectors that Iyer was ‘fit’. It also quoted Mumbai Cricket Association sources saying that Iyer had cited back pain as the reason behind missing the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match against Baroda.
“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 his email according to the report.
With BCCI omitting both from its contract list, the national body might be acting tough to a send a stern message to all players who has national team aspiration
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