Ajit Agarkar furious with Shreyas Iyer for attending KKR camp after complaining of back problem - Report

Shreyas Iyer was left out of the Indian squad for the last three games of the five-match test series vs England.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced annual central contracts for the year 2023–24 on February 28th. Two big exclusions made a huge noise in Indian cricket. The exclusion of premier batters Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan was the biggest talking point among former Indian cricketers. As per reports, both Shreyas and Ishan were ousted from their central contracts due to not playing in Indian domestic tournaments. 

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are currently out of the Indian team. The middle-order batter Shreyas, was not included in the last three test matches of the ongoing five-match series against England due to his poor performances in the first two games in Hyderabad and Vizag. Iyer then complained about back pain before the Indian selection panel replaced him with Sarfaraz Khan. Currently, Iyer is taking part in the Ranji Trophy 2023–24 semi-finals clash between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu.

Agarkar ‘furious’ with Shreyas Iyer

According to the latest report on RevSportz, Indian batter Shreyas Iyer joined Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) pre-season camp for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season and decided to skip some Ranji Trophy 2023-24 matches.

This made Indian national chief selector Ajit Agarkar miffed with Shreyas Iyer. Agarkar was furious when he got to know about Iyer joining KKR’s pre-season camp rather than joining his domestic team Mumbai for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match.

The BCCI has decided to prioritize the Indian domestic structure to nurture the grassroot talent. The apex body in their press release stated, “The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.” This came as a big warning to players not willing to play in the Ranji Trophy.

Former Indian cricketers have also praised BCCI’s decision to put emphasis on domestic tournaments and red-ball cricket. Legendary players VVS Laxman and Kapil Dev hailed BCCI’s strict decision.

1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev went on to add that a few players might feel uncomfortable, but this is the right way to bring in quality. Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan also skipped the entire Ranji Trophy 2023–24 season despite sitting out of the India squad. 

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