Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan excluded from BCCI central contracts

BCCI has excluded Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the central contract list, which was announced on Wednesday. KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj have been upgraded to Grade A whereas Rishabh Pant, who met a near-fatal accident, is now included in Grade B.

The reason for Iyer and Kishan’s exclusion is the fact that they skipped playing for India and also didn’t represent their respective states in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the BCCI stated in a media release, adding: “The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.”

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami have been retained in Grade A whereas Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been retained in the A+ category.

India’s Test veteran Cheteshwar Pujara doesn’t find himself in any contract category. Furthermore, there are as many as 15 players in Grade C category.

Moreover, BCCI has released a separate contract for the fast bowlers. Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa have been named in this category.

List of contracted players for 2023-24:

Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade A: R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B: Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C: 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.

Fast Bowling contracts: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.