Rahul Dravid drops major update on Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan

After failing to retain his place in the Indian Test team, Shreyas Iyer was expected to play Ranji Trophy matches for Mumbai. However, the star batter opted out of the quarterfinal against Baroda, citing health issues. In the meantime, the 29-year-old was spotted in the KKR camp, which infuriated chief selector Ajit Agarkar. Even though Iyer announced that he would be available for the semifinal and final of the Ranji Trophy, BCCI decided to punish him by removing him from the central contract list.

Ishan Kishan, on the other hand, skipped the entire domestic tournament without much communication. As per reports, BCCI reached out to him and asked him to join the India squad for the third Test against England, but Kishan rejected their request, stating that he was not ready to play red-ball cricket. These two decisions of his backfired as BCCI removed him from the central contract list as well. 

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Speaking about these new developments, head coach Rahul Dravid stated that the players are in the scheme of things at the moment. He advised both Kishan and Iyer to work hard in domestic cricket and force the selectors to pick them in the national squad. The 51-year-old added that the team management has no role in deciding the annual contract of the players but if they are in the squad in the future, both cricketers will be considered in the playing XI.

“They're always in the mix. Everyone who's playing domestic cricket is in the mix. Firstly, I don't decide contracts, right? Contracts are decided by the selectors and the board. I don't even know what the criteria are. I'm involved in - people ask me my opinion on the 15, and me and Rohit select the XI. That's how it works,” Dravid was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

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“I don't even know sometimes what the list of the contracted players is when we take these decisions, discussions on the 15 or the playing 11 for that matter. No one's out of the picture, no one's out of the mix, it's just a question of hopefully them getting back and fit, playing cricket, and forcing the selectors to pick them again,” he added.