BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed who decided to drop Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list of central contracts recently. This was done after both the players ignored BCCI and India team management’s pleas to play domestic cricket.
Shreyas Iyer had suffered a reoccurrence of his back injury after the first two Tests against England. He was not selected for the next three Tests. Iyer still found himself at the receiving end after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders' camp in Mumbai when his domestic side was busy playing a Ranji Trophy fixture.
While Iyer did play for Mumbai in the knockout stages, he was not picked in the BCCI central contracts.
On the other hand, Ishan Kishan was on a mental health break after returning from a South Africa tour. He had no contact with BCCI and his home state board despite the India team management urging him to play Ranji Trophy ahead of the England Test series for selection.
He remained unavailable until the DY Patil T20 Cup and made his return in that tournament ahead of the IPL 2024. This meant that both the players were excluded from the list of BCCI centrally contracted players.
Now BCCI secretary Jay Shah clarified that the decision to drop India players Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from this year’s BCCI central contract was taken by the chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, adding that his role as the convener was to implement the decision taken.
"You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting). That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, even when these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his.
My role is just to implement. And we have got new players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable”," Jay Shah told reporters at the BCCI head office here on Thursday.
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Following their expulsion, Shah claimed to have spoken with the players.
"Yes, I had spoken with them. Media had even carried the reports," he said.
Shah further said that Hardik Pandya told him that if BCCI considers him only for the white-ball format, he will play the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
"Even Hardik (Pandya) said if BCCI is considering me for white-ball, then I am ready to play Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Any player will have to play, even if they do not want to, they will have to," Shah continued.
Shah stated that, in the end, it boils down to who is playing well and who can maintain performance as a player when discussing high scores in this year's IPL.
"Whoever plays well in the IPL... like say, Ishan Kishan, he finds it difficult to take part with the Indian team but he can play in Mumbai Indians as a player. There he can play in a relaxed manner. In Team India, you have to prove yourself and give back-to-back performances. The one who can handle that can be described as a right player," he added.
Shah also revealed details of his conversation with Kishan, which occurred after the Mumbai Indians' game against the Gujarat Titans.
"No, I did not advise him anything. It was just a friendly talk that he should do well and I speak with all players like that," he said.
(PTI inputs)
