Reports: Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan to be removed from BCCI's central contracts for missing Ranji Trophy matches

India cricketers Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan face the danger of losing their BCCI central contracts due to skipping Ranji Trophy matches. Notably, Iyer was included in Grade B of the central contract in March 2023 earning INR 3 Crore annually, while Ishan Kishan was put in Grade C earning INR 1 Crore annually. According to reports, the BCCI will soon announce the new central contracts for players and Kishan and Iyer are likely to face the axe due to their reluctance to play domestic cricket.

Kishan has been on a break due to personal reasons since leaving the team midway through the South Africa tour due to mental fatigue while Iyer was recently dropped from the Test team for the last three Tests of the ongoing five-match Test series. However, the BCCI didn’t specify the reason behind dropping the Mumbai batter.

Also Read: Ishan Kishan breaks silence on Ranji absence following controversy

"The selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, have almost finalised the list of centrally-contracted players for the 2023-24 season too, which the BCCI will announce soon. 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 source was quoted as saying by Times of India.

Kishan has been practicing with his Mumbai Indians’ skipper Hardik Pandya in Baroda and didn’t appear for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy 2024.  On the other hand, Iyer also didn’t feature in Mumbai’s last league fixture in the Ranji Trophy 2024 against Assam and further missed the quarter-final against Baroda, which is currently being played at the MCA Cricket Ground in Mumbai.

The 29-year-old had informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that he was unavailable for selection due to back spasm. However, Nitin Patel, the Head of Sports Science and Medicine at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, added a new twist to the tale by revealing that Iyer was fit to play in an email to the BCCI and national selectors.

Jay Shah has warned cricketers against skipping domestic cricket

Another source revealed that Iyer was dropped for the last three Tests against England as a precautionary measure and the email sent by Nitin Patel was after the second Test but a back problem has troubled him since then.

Also Read: Jay Shah warns top stars of severe implications if they miss domestic red-ball games

Recently, BCCI secretary Jay Shah also stated that it was mandatory for the centrally contracted and India A cricketers to play domestic cricket if they’re not part of the national team. He further stated that non-participation in the ongoing Ranji Trophy will not be tolerated, and would result in acute repercussions against the cricketers who fail to comply with the newly-introduced directive.