In a tough message to youngsters – Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were excluded from the BCCI Central contracts after ignoring the directive to play Ranji Trophy and chasing IPL contracts instead.
Skipper Rohit Sharma and superstar Virat Kohli expectedly retained their place in the top bracket as the BCCI unveiled its centrally-contracted players for this year.
The 25-year-old Kishan did not turn up for Jharkhand throughout the team’s campaign in Ranji Trophy despite not being on national duty since leaving from the tour of South Africa in December citing personal reasons. He has instead focussed on preparing for the IPL next month.
Iyer, on the other hand, did not make himself available for Mumbai’s Ranji quarterfinal against Baroda after being excluded from the Indian team after the second Test against England. He, however, has been picked for the Ranji semifinals starting March 2.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” said the BCCI in a statement.
“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 board added.
Central contracts for 2023-24:
Grade A+
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.#TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024
Grade A
R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.#TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024
Grade B
Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.#TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024
Grade C
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.#TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024
In a first for Indian cricket, Fast bowling contracts: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
