Mumbai: Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who both featured in India’s campaign in the 2023 ODI World Cup, have been axed from the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual contract list.
The middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper-batter have been ‘punished’ for missing most of the domestic season despite directives from the Board and its secretary Jay Shah.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations. The board has directed the players to give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” BCCI said in a statement.
Kishan was in Grade C and Iyer in Grade B of the contracts for 2022-23 season.
Kishan hasn’t played for India since pulling out of the Test series in South Africa last December-January, requesting a break. Iyer was dropped for the last three Tests in the ongoing Test series against England.
The BCCI on Wednesday granted new contracts to 30 cricketers.
Leading the list are skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, who have been retained in the top bracket (A+).
KL Rahul and Shubman Gill have earned promotions to Grade A.
Young Yashasvi Jaiswal, the hero of India’s series win over England, makes his debut and has been handed Grade B straightaway.
BCCI CONTRACTS FOR 2023-24: FULL LIST
Grade A+
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A
R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B
Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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.
