The exclusion of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from BCCI’s central contract has been the biggest talking point in the Indian cricketing circle, since yesterday. The Board of Control for Cricket in India awarded central contracts to as many as thirty players.
However, the fans and the cricket pundits were surprised to not find the names of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan on the list. Shreyas Iyer was dropped from the Test squad after his meagre returns in the first two Tests against England.
Ishan Kishan, on the other hand, has been constantly receiving criticism after he left India’s tour of South Africa midway, citing mental fatigue. Notably, both the players didn’t go back to join their state team for the ongoing Ranji tournament, something which BCCI wasn’t appreciative of.
Recently, the board also mentioned that players who won’t take part in India’s premier domestic tournaments are likely to face repercussions. Despite that, the duo wasn’t keen to take part in the competition.
Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan Excluded From BCCI Central Contract
On Wednesday, BCCI took the hard decision to not offer the central contract to Iyer and Ishan Kishan. It has been understood that Shreyas Iyer will join the Mumbai team for his team’s semi-final final in the Ranji tournament. However, Ishan Kishan continues to stay away from the format and is, rather, keen on playing the DY Patil T20 Cup.
Amidst all that, a few voices have been raised over Hardik Pandya’s inclusion in the central contract even though he too hasn’t played the domestic competition for very long.
Hardik Pandya, recently, made his comeback on the field during DY Patil T20 Cup. He suffered an injury while bowling in the ICC 2023 World Cup and hasn’t played for India, since.
Hardik Pandya is an important part of India’s white-ball scheme of things. However, he isn’t too keen to play the red-ball format as his body doesn’t allow him to endure the demands of red-ball cricket. This is a major reason why BCCI didn’t take the harsh decision to not award him the contract.
It is worth mentioning that Hardik first suffered a back injury during the 2018 Asia Cup. He underwent a successful surgery, thereafter in September 2020, and took one year to recover completely.
He phenomenally made his comeback, leading the Gujarat Titans to the IPL trophy. BCCI is quite aware of the fact that Hardik Pandya’s body is no longer suitable to play the red-ball format and hence, he wasn’t reprimanded for not participating in the Ranji tournament.
