The BCCI’s Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season lacked two key players: Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Until recently, the star Indian batters were part of the squad. While Ishan Kishan was the penultimate member of India’s Test team during their December tour of South Africa, Shreyas Iyer played the first two Tests of the ongoing series against England. However, the BCCI removed the two senior players from the contract list. The BCCI made a point of highlighting the duo’s absence with the following paragraph in the list: “Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations.”
While there was no official reason given on why Ishan and 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 quit India’s tour of South Africa on December 17, the BCCI stated: Mr. Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to release him from the upcoming Test series against South Africa due to personal reasons. While it was assumed that Ishan would return to domestic cricket after leaving the national team, the 25-year-old cricketer elected to remain absent from the Ranji Trophy matches for his state team Jharkhand. Ishan defied Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid’s unambiguous advice to play some type of cricket to regain his spot in the Indian squad.
Iyer has struggled for form in Test cricket. He was dropped from the final three Tests against England after failing to make an impact in the first two games. If Shreyas had to be rested due to injury, the BCCI medical bulletin would have provided an update. Since there are no updates, it can be presumed that he has received the axe, a BCCI source revealed.
Iyer withdrew from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semifinals due to injury worries, but the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has confirmed that he has no ‘new injuries’, according to a few reports. The reports highlighted an email from the NCA’s head of sports science and medicine, Nitin Patel, who informed selectors that Iyer was ‘fit’. According to information from the Mumbai Cricket Association, Iyer missed the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match against Baroda due to a back strain.
With both omitted from the BCCI’s contract list, the national board may be acting tough to send a strong message to all players with national team aspirations.
