Indian cricketers Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are at risk of losing their BCCI central contracts because they chose to skip Ranji Trophy matches. Iyer, who was placed in Grade B with an annual earning of INR 3 Crore in March 2023, and Kishan, placed in Grade C with an annual earning of INR 1 Crore, may face exclusion from the upcoming central contracts announcement by the BCCI. Their absence from domestic cricket matches has raised concerns about their contract renewal.
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.
Kishan has been practicing with his Mumbai Indians’ skipper Hardik Pandya in Baroda and didn’t appear for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy 2024. On the other hand, Iyer also didn’t feature in Mumbai’s last league fixture in the Ranji Trophy 2024 against Assam and further missed the quarter-final against Baroda, which is currently being played at the MCA Cricket Ground in Mumbai.
The 29-year-old had informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that he was unavailable for selection due to back spasm. However, Nitin Patel, the Head of Sports Science and Medicine at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, added a new twist to the tale by revealing that Iyer was fit to play in an email to the BCCI and national selectors.
Recently, BCCI secretary Jay Shah also stated that it was mandatory for the centrally contracted and India A cricketers to play domestic cricket if they’re not part of the national team. He further stated that non-participation in the ongoing Ranji Trophy will not be tolerated, and would result in acute repercussions against the cricketers who fail to comply with the newly-introduced directive.
