File photo of Shreyas Iyer (left) and Ishan Kishan.© AFP
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it mandatory for all the centrally contracted players, who are fit and off national duty, to participate in domestic cricket. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer are the ones who have already been at the receiving end of the Board’s fury for not playing domesic cricket when possible. The two players were excluded from the list of central contracts that was announced by BCCI earlier this year as they missed out on domestic games despite being fit and also away from international circuit.
Both Iyer and Kishan are part of the upcoming Duleep Trophy that is set to start on September 5. BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said that the two players have taken the decision as a result of BCCI’s harsh action.
“If you look Duleep Trophy squad, apart from Rohit and Virat rest are going to play. It’s because of the harsh steps I have taken, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are playing Duleep Trophy,” Jay Shah told Times of India.
“We have been little strict. When Ravindra Jadeja had got injured, I was the one who called him and asked him to play a domestic game. It’s certain now, whoever gets injured and goes out, can only come into the Indian team after proving his fitness in domestic cricket,” he added.
Notably, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been allowed to rest as part of workload management. India now play their next game after a month. They will be taking on Bangladesh in a two-match Test series, starting September 19.
“It doesn’t make sense to add to Virat and Rohit’s load by asking them to play domestic cricket. They run the risk of getting injured. You also need to look at England and Australia. None of their top players play domestic cricket. We must treat our players respectfully and not treat them like servants,” said the BCCI secretary.
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