Since the BCCI annual contract list was released on Wednesday, two names which have grabbed the attention were Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan with their. The two star players have been part of India's planning in recent times but still found themselves excluded from the BCCI contracts. According to reports and BCCI's hint in one of its press releases, the reluctance of the duo to play in domestic cricket may have played a big part in both of them losing BCCI central contracts.
While there was no official reason given on why Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped, one line in BCCI's release gives a strong hint. "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 stated.
When Ishan Kishan had left India's Tour of South Africa, the BCCI had said on December 17: "Mr Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad."
While it was expected that Ishan Kishan would play domestic cricket from his time away from the national team, the wicketkeeper-batter chose to remain absent from his state team Jharkhand's Ranji Trophy matches. Despite Indian cricket team coach Rahul Dravid clearly mentioning that he need to play some form of cricket to regain his place in the Indian squad, Ishan Kishan ignored the instruction.
Shreyas Iyer also excused himself from one of the Ranji Trophy matches for Mumbai due to injury. However, NCA's report on his injury was contradictory, according to a report in Indian express.
Now, in a report by ESPN Cricinfo, it has been claimed that Ishan Kishan was contacted by the Indian cricket team management during the ongoing India vs England Test series. The reports added that Kishan replied that he was not ready yet. In his absence, Dhruv Jurel got the opportunity and won the Player of the Match award.
Full list of BCCI contracts
Grade A+ (4 Athletes)
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A (6 Athletes)
R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (5 Athletes)
Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C (15 Athletes)
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.