IPL May Not Be Enough For Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan To Make India Comeback. Report Reveals Details

The future remains uncertain for Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were axed from the BCCI contract list that was released recently. "Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," a statement from BCCI said. Though there was no further explanation of their absence, despite the duo being in the scheme of things with the Indian cricket team for the last one year, one line in the BCCI press release gave enough hint about the cause of their contract termination. 

"The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team," the BCCI press release .

Herein may lie a big hint. After Ishan Kishan took a break from the national duties, midway into India's Tour of South Africa in January, Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid mentioned he needs to play domestic cricket or any other form of cricket to make a comeback. Though the Ranji Trophy was going on, Ishan Kishan missed his state team Jharkhand's matches. He even started training with his IPL captain Hardik Pandya.

Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, made himself unavailable for a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai citing injury. However, the NCA's report on him was contradictory. The star India batter had been battling poor form in Tests of late and was dropped after the first two matches against England. 

Now a report in the Indian Express has said that though the duo will play the IPL, they will be considered for national team selection if they play domestic cricket extensively. 

"Ishan was granted a break that he sought. But he hasn't reported to the NCA or the state unit, but continues to train alone. Under the circumstances, there was no chance for the BCCI to offer a central contract. Similarly with Shreyas, we went by the medical reports. The door is still open for them provided they play domestic cricket regularly," sources told the paper.

Veteran India wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha on Thursday said nothing can be done 'forcefully' if a cricketer does not want to play domestic cricket, while adding that it is the base and every player should value it enough to prosper. Saha's reaction came after Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were on Wednesday excluded from the annual player retainership list for the 2023-24 season, with the BCCI saying in a statement that the two cricketers 'were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations'.

"That is BCCI's decision and personal decision of concerned players. Forcefully, you can't do anything," the stumper said about Kishan and Iyer's axe.

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

Shreyas Iyer Ishan Kishan India Cricket Team Mumbai Indians Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2024 Cricket