The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual player retainership 2023-24 – Team India (Senior Men) and Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were notable omissions from the list. The Indian cricket board clearly ran out of patience with the two cricketers and has sent out a strong message by not including them in the 30 cricketers who got the annual player contract.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” read the BCCI media advisory.
Iyer, who was in Grade B last year, has been excluded after the injury drama which unfolded this month. Right after he was dropped from India’s Test squad for the last three Tests vs England due to poor form, the right-hander cited injury issues and made himself unavailable for Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy fixtures.
It was reported that the right-hander was not picked in India’s Test squad because of injury concerns but it was a false narrative going around. As CricketNext had reported, the Mumbai batter was not considered because of his extended lean patch with the bat and not any injury concern.
“Injury issues? What are we saying? Did you not see his run-out of Ben Stokes? The fact is runs are just not coming and more is expected from the young middle-order batter. That is the biggest concern and the issue at the moment. He faced over 50 deliveries in three of his four innings and the concern is that runs just haven’t come,” a BCCI official had said.
Instead of returning to the domestic grind, Iyer continued to cite back issues as the reason for his absence and missed Mumbai’s quarter-final clash vs Baroda at home last week. The National Cricket Academy (NCA) then intervened and informed the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) that the middle-order batter had no injury concern whatsoever and was very much match-fit. It was only after the NCA’s email that the 29-year-old returned to the Mumbai squad for the upcoming semi-final vs Tamil Nadu.
It is understood that the senior selectors and senior BCCI officials were not pleased with Iyer’s injury claims and absence from the Ranji Trophy. What irked the Indian cricket board most was the fact that BCCI secretary Jay Shah issued a stern warning to all contracted players to play for their state when not on national duty but Iyer remained missing from action.
Another player who skipped the Ranji Trophy was Ishan Kishan and the young stumper, who was in Grade C last year, has been excluded from the contracted players’ list. Ever since withdrawing from the South Africa tour late last year, Kishan remained away from cricket and didn’t play the Ranji Trophy when he could have easily played three to four games for Jharkhand.
The 25-year-old chose to focus on fitness and only returned to cricket in the ongoing DY Patil T20 tournament in Navi Mumbai. Like Iyer, Kishan too didn’t pay any heed to BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s ultimatum. On the sidelines of an event in Rajkot this month, Shah didn’t specifically name Kishan while addressing the issue of players skipping the Ranji Trophy but asserted that all centrally contracted players have no choice but to play domestic cricket when free.
“He is a youngster… there is no need to mention his name. It applies to everyone. Everyone under the contract and the ones being targeted too. All players will have no choice but to play domestic cricket,” Shah had said.
The strong step by the chairman of the selection committee and the Indian cricket board has certainly sent a loud message to all the cricketers in the country, and there is no way absence from the premier domestic competition will be tolerated.
Comments
0 comment