Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, stars of the Indian cricket team, were notable absences from the BCCI Annual Contract list.
BCCI announced on Wednesday the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season (October 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2024). Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, two key members of the Indian cricket team, were notably absent from the roster. “Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the Cricket Board of India (BCCI) stated.
There were enough rumors that the duo will be dropped off the BCCI contract list. Ishan Kishan took a sabbatical midway through India’s South African Tour. Ishan Kishan was then left out of the home T20I series against Afghanistan and the Test series against England. Rahul Dravid, the Indian cricket team’s head coach, made it quite plain that Ishan Kishan would have to play some type of cricket in order to return to the national squad. However, he continued to skip Ranji Trophy matches for Jharkhand.
Shreyas Iyer recently opted out of a Ranji Trophy game in Mumbai owing to a back injury. According to the Times of India, the duo will be removed from the BCCI contract list. “Kishan and Iyer are likely to be excluded from that list, as both haven’t been playing domestic cricket despite the BCCI’s diktat to do so,” a person familiar with the situation told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja were all given the highest possible rating of A+. Six players compete in the A category: R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya.
Furthermore, athletes who play a minimum of three Tests, eight ODIs, or ten T20Is within the stated time frame will be automatically placed in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For example, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, who have played two Test matches so far, will be promoted to Grade C if they play in the Dharamsala Test Match, the fifth in the ongoing series against England, according to a BCCI announcement.
“The Selection Committee also proposed Fast Bowling contracts for Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal, and Vidwath Kaverappa.
Full list of BCCI contractes players:
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.
