 "Timeline: What led to Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer losing BCCI contracts")
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual retainers for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday and there were two notable absentees in the list of centrally contracted players– Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. The two batters have been a key component of the Indian side for quite some time. BCCI, however, was reportedly not quite happy with the cricketers skipping domestic tournaments in recent times.
Explained: What’s news in BCCI central contacts list for 2023-24 season?
A few days ago, BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote a letter to all the contracted players, clarifying that they are not allowed to prioritise the Indian Premier League (IPL) over red-ball cricket. When any such player is not involved in an international assignment, they must turn up in the Ranji Trophy. The statement did not mention any particular name, but many felt it was meant for Kishan.
Timeline: What led to Kishan and Iyer losing BCCI contracts
The young wicketkeeper-batter returned from a tour of South Africa midway in December last year, citing personal reasons. It was reported that Kishan wanted a break as he was experiencing mental fatigue . Kishan took a return flight to India after the white-ball leg, with KS Bharat replacing him in a two-match Test series.
Amidst all this, a couple of reports emerged, speculating about the reason behind the decision. One of them said Kishan might not be happy for not securing a place in the playing eleven on a regular basis, while the other one revealed that the BCCI was left irked after the 25-year-old was spotted partying in Dubai.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTeam India head coach Rahul Dravid was also questioned about the same. He did support Kishan’s decision but also pointed out the importance of playing domestic cricket to earn a call-up for the Indian team. A few days ago, Kishan was spotted undergoing an intense gym session with his IPL captain Hardik Pandya in Baroda. However, he could not make himself available for his state team Jharkhand’s Ranji Trophy assignments. On Tuesday, Kishan featured in a DY Patil T20 Cup match, representing the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) team.
Ishan Kishan in the gym session with Hardik Pandya. 🔥https://t.co/TN3HgEGJrN
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 22, 2024
Meanwhile, Iyer featured in the first two Tests of the ongoing England series at home. As he failed to produce anything significant on both occasions, Iyer was dropped from the remaining three Tests. There were widespread reports that the middle-order batter was dealing with back issues and his form had nothing to do with his removal from the squad.
Iyer was slated to play in the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai but requested some time to become fully fit. However, there was also an NCA mail which stated that batter was fully fit. Later, he decided to feature in the semi-final of the domestic tournament but it was already too late. Recently, Iyer was seen training in the Kolkata Knight Riders camp and it perhaps did not go down well with the BCCI.
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