BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday (February 14) made it clear that India's centrally contracted players will have to mandatorily play domestic red-ball tournaments and the board will not tolerate any excuses for the same.

Shah’s comments came on the sidelines of the renaming of the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium. He also mentioned that the chairman of selectors will be given a free hand to take a call on his own if a player refuses to follow instructions given by the team management.

Earlier, news agency PTI had reported that the BCCI will be making it mandatory for Indian players to feature in at least three or four Ranji trophy matches in case they wish to play in the IPL.

"They have been informed on phone already and I'm going to write letters as well that if your chairman of selectors, your coach and your captain are asking for it then you will have to play red-ball cricket," Shah told the media.

Jay Shah, however, said that the players’ participation in domestic red-ball tournaments will happen in accordance with the guidance from the National Cricket Academy.

“Whatever advice we get from the NCA — say suppose somebody’s body is not able to handle both white-ball and red-ball cricket — so we do not want to impose anything in that regard. (It applies to) whoever is fit and young — we are not going to tolerate any other tantrums. This message is for all centrally contracted players,” Shah clarified.

“Everyone will have to play, otherwise, the chairman of the selection committee has given me his suggestions and I am going to give him a free hand to let him take his own calls freely,” he added.

BCCI secretary also touched upon the topic of Virat Kohli, who pulled out of the entire five-Test series against England at home due to ‘personal reasons’.

"If somebody is asking for a personal leave in 15 years then it is his right to ask for it. Virat is not that kind of a player that he would ask for a leave without any reason. We must back and trust our players," he said.

However, Jay Shah refused to share details if Kohli, like Rohit Sharma who was confirmed as the captain for the upcoming T20 World Cup, would be available for the marquee event.

"We will talk about Virat later," Shah said.

(With PTI Inputs)