The BCCI on Wednesday announced the annual player retainership 2023-24 with Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer not included in any of the senior players’ lists.
The duo had reportedly been defying directives to take part in the Ranji Trophy, and the board has cracked the whip on the star players.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the board made its stand on the two players clear with a statement in the release.
Per Indian Express, Iyer was included in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy side after he made himself available for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting at the MCA-BKC ground on Saturday. Iyer, who had been left out of the Indian squad after the second Test against England, skipped the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda citing back pain, even though Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy, in an email to selectors accessed by the daily, had confirmed that there was ‘no fresh injury’ reports and that Iyer was ‘fit’.
This came on the heels of BCCI secretary Jay Shah warning centrally-contracted and A team players that non-participation in domestic cricket would have ‘severe implications’ after wicketkeeper-batsman Kishan opted not to play for Jharkhand after withdrawing from the South Africa tour citing ‘personal reasons.’ Kishan was then seen training with his new Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya ahead of the upcoming IPL season.
In the list of central contracts for 2023-24, captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been put in Grade A+ category. They are followed by R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya who are in Grade A and Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal who are in Grade B.
Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar all come after them in Grade C.
“Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England,” the board added.
The Selection Committee also recommended fast bowling contracts for Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
