The challenge that is life! Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have found themselves out of the reckoning. Months after both were part of the India cricket team at the ODI World Cup 2023, the duo have been left out of the BCCI Central Contracts 2023-24. The tried-and-tested batters have made way for uncut gems like Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel instead.
Kishan went from being India’s No. 1 choice for Test wicketkeeper and the backup opener at the World Cup to not even getting a contract. Similarly for Iyer, the batter scored a 70-ball hundred in the ODI World Cup semifinal and was part of India’s Test side until a couple of weeks ago. Now, both have no sight of a comeback, with young guns taking over their mantels.
In these testing times, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has come to lend a helping hand to the talented cricketers. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Shastri wrote:
The reason behind Ishan Kishan & Shreyas Iyer’s snub
Despite Kishan being looked at as India’s top wicketkeeper in Test cricket in the absence of Rishabh Pant, the cricketer from Jharkhand decided to pull out of the South Africa tour. When the southpaw cited mental fatigue, no one batted an eye and gave the player the space he needed.
He has not been in action in the T20I series against Afghanistan and the India vs England Test series, but that didn’t seem to ruffle feathers. However, his decision not to play in the Ranji Trophy and instead play in the DY Patil T20 Tournament seemed to have miffed the BCCI.
The case of Shreyas Iyer is much more curious. After failures in South Africa and then at home against England, the Mumbai cricketer was dropped. However, similar to Kishan, he didn’t seem to be interested in playing Ranji Trophy and pulled out of Mumbai’s next fixture, citing a back spasm despite the NCA’s claims against any such injury.
Then, a couple of days ago, Iyer stated that he’d be available for the Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu semifinal, but as with Kishan, the BCCI seemed to have already made up their mind about him, and he too was left out for not prioritizing domestic cricket.
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