Mumbai, Feb 29:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday did not consider Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer for the annual retainership contract despite participating in India’s World Cup campaign.
Their removal from the annual contract comes amidst their absence from the ongoing domestic season. The BCCI has recommended all players give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” BCCI honorary secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
Ishan has not played for India since he sought a break from South Africa series. Though Head Coach Rahul Dravid has not insisted Ishan play Ranji matches, but stressed the need for him to play competitive cricket before thinking of returning to the national side.
In the flipside, Iyer was dropped for the last three Test matches against England after failing to impress the team management with his bat.
However, Iyer has made himself available for the Mumbai team for the upcoming Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu in Mumbai.
Another big takeaway was the inclusion of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was handed his maiden contract debut and straightaway placed in the B category, considering his world-class performance against England with the bat.
K.L. Rahul and Shubman Gill have been promoted to the A category, while Hardik Pandya has been retained in the same bracket even though he was not available for selection in Test cricket.
In 2023, Hardik played as many as 11 T20Is but missed out during the World Cup due to an injury. Suryakumar has been retained in the B category and led India in eight T20Is in 2023-24.
There are four players in the Grade A+ category, which includes Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
In the Grade A category are: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, K.L. Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B players are Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
There are 15 Grade C players. They are 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.
Additionally, players who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests, 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis.
“For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test against England,” BCCI said.
The selection committee also recommended fast bowling contracts for Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
