BCCI punishes rebels Ishan Kishan & Shreyas Iyer, axes from central contract

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a stance against the two rebel cricketers. The Indian board has dropped Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from BCCI Central Contract list for 2023-24. Ishan has repeatedly ignored BCCI and selectors’ advice to play Ranji Trophy. Instead, he chose to play DY Patil T20 Cup. Iyer has returned to Mumbai squad for Ranji semifinals but not after the axe fell on him.

“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” BCCI said in a statement.

Why Ishan Kishan & Shreyas Iyer axed?

Ishan Kishan pulled out of South Africa series citing mental fatigue. While that did not sit well with the BCCI, Ishan repeatedly ignored calls to play in Ranji Trophy.

He had a chance to come back to the Test team with KS Bharat struggling. But with no domestic cricket to back his claims, Ishan was snubbed.

And as a result, he is out of the BCCI Central Contract. Last year, Ishan was in Grade C.

As for Shreyas Iyer, it’s tricky. He was an all format player till last year. He was a regular in Test, ODI and T20I depending upon his fitness.

But after he was dropped from the Test squad after a string of disappointing performances, he complained of back spasm and skipped Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy match.

While he has returned to the squad now, ignoring BCCI’s advice has gone against him.

BCCI also sent a warning to all cricketers, mandating participation in domestic cricket.

“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 statement added.

BCCI Central Contract 2023-24

Grade A+ (4 Athletes)

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.–

Grade A (6 Athletes)

R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B (5 Athletes)

Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C (15 Athletes)

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.