How can Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan get BCCI central contract?

BCCI excluded Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from central contracts for the season 2023-24.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) unveiled the annual central contracts for the senior men’s team for the 2023-24 season on February 28th, 2024. The list will cover the period from October 1st, 2023, to September 30th, 2024.

However, the announcement also sparked discussions due to the removal of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the BCCI’s central contracts for 2023–24. The BCCI statement clarified that both the Indian cricketers (Shreyas and Ishan), who were in Grades B and C, respectively, in the last central contracts list, were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations.

The richest cricket board, BCCI, also made it clear that all of the contracted Indian athletes should also give importance and participate in domestic cricket when they are not representing the national team.

Wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan had been out of cricketing action after pulling out of India’s tour of South Africa in 2023-24 due to ‘personal reasons and mental fatigue.’ After this, Kishan was also not included in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan or the five-match test series against England.

After being snubbed from the Indian cricket team, Ishan Kishan was spotted training in Baroda along with Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, and Kishan also missed the entire Ranji Trophy 2023–24 season for Jharkhand despite being told to play the Ranji Trophy matches. Recently, Ishan returned to action via the ongoing DY Patil T20 tournament in Navi Mumbai.

On the other hand, after being omitted from India’s test squad for last three Tests against England, Shreyas missed Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda due to back issues, as per his claims, but he has been named in the Mumbai squad for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting on March 2 at BKC Ground.

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 more details, click the link below 👇👇https://t.co/IzRjzUUdel #TeamIndia

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024

Here’s how Indian batters Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer can regain the BCCI central contracts:

As per the BCCI statement, Indian players should meet the criteria of playing a minimum of three test matches or eight ODIs or ten T20Is within the specified given period, so that they can automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis.

It means that both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer will have to feature in the minimum matches as per BCCI’s criteria to get central contracts. However, to get a contracts back, both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have to play for the Indian cricket team.

According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the selectors, who make the recommendations for central contracts, have no doubts over both Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s ability on the field, but they were not happy with both of the cricketers using their time away from national duty prioritising IPL franchises. Kishan used his time away from the game to train alongside Mumbai Indians (MI) captain in Baroda.

Meanwhile, Iyer was spotted at the Kolkata Knight Riders’ pre-season camp, he missed the Ranji Trophy 2023–24 quarter-final match for Mumbai. However, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer made himself available for Mumbai’s semi-final clash against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy 2023–24 season.

“The selectors don’t doubt their ability. But if the NCA is saying you are fit and you are not making yourself available for the Test series, how can the BCCI offer you a contract?” a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo.

“After the IPL, if they happen to get selected and fulfil the criteria of the number of matches required for a pro-rata contract, they will be awarded a contract,” the source told to ESPNcricinfo.

List of BCCI central contracts for senior’s men team for 2023/24 season

1. Grade A+ – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

2. Grade A – R Ashwin, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

3. Grade B – Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

4. 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.

Fast Bowling contracts: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.

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