Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s exclusion was the highlight of BCCI’s central contracts list announced for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday (February 28). Both batters seemed to have paid the price after failing to adhere to the board's mandate of playing domestic cricket.
Iyer, who was left out of the Test side after the second match against England in Vizag, didn't make himself available to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy for his side's final group stage game and then the quarter-finals as he was allegedly recovering from a back spasm.
On the other hand, Kishan, who returned to competitive cricket in the ongoing DY Patil T20 Cup a couple of days ago, too didn't feature in a single Ranji Trophy match.
The BCCI, in its release, while announcing the list of centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season confirmed that both Shreyas and Ishan weren't considered for the contract in the current round of recommendations.
The release also added, "The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team."
Sharing his two cents on this matter, veteran wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha on Thursday (February 29) said that no one can force a cricketer to participate in domestic cricket if they are not inclined to do so.
However, Saha highlighted the significance of domestic cricket as the foundation for players to thrive and succeed in their careers.
“That is BCCI’s decision and personal decision of concerned players. Forcefully, you can’t do anything,” Saha was quoted as saying by PTI.
“Whenever I am fit I play, even I played club matches, office matches as well. I always treat a match as a match. All matches are equal for me. If every player thinks on those lines, they will only prosper in their career and it will be better for Indian cricket as well,” he added.
“I feel the importance of domestic cricket is always there because if I talk about Sarfaraz Khan, he had scored plenty of runs in the last 4-5 years. Definitely, he has delivered,” he further stated.
Meanwhile, Saha showered rich praise on young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who played a key role in India’s series-clinching five-wicket victory over England in the Ranchi Test.
Featuring in his second Test, Jurel stepped up to the plate under immense pressure in both innings, returning with scores of 90 and 39* to win the Player-of-the-Match award.
“I have never seen him (Jurel) in domestic cricket, even in Test matches I have seen in him highlights. But his batting is outstanding, he won the last Test for the team,” he said.
According to Saha, the future of Indian cricket is bright because of its bench strength while once again emphasizing the importance of domestic circuit.
“It is always good to see that your reserve bench is ready, whenever somebody is getting chance,” he said.
“Over that, some players are getting opportunity but don’t want to play, which they shouldn’t. Whenever you get a chance to play, you should play whether it is red ball or white ball,” Saha remarked.
(With PTI Inputs)
