In a big blow for Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the annual retainership for the 2023-24 season in which both players were excluded from the central contracts list.
"Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," the BCCI informed as both players refused to play the Ranji Trophy 2024 which did not go down well with the board.
BCCI's clear directive - Play domestic cricket
The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.
Young stars Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal have got promotions in their contracts while the likes of Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa have been recommended have been recommended fast bowling contracts by the selection committee.
Hardik Pandya has managed to retain his Grade A contract despite not playing any cricket since October last year.
Central Contracts breakdown:
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.
Note: Players in Grade A + get Rs 7 crore, in Grade A they get Rs 5 crore, in Grade B they get in Rs 3 crore and in Grade C they get Rs 1 crore.
BCCI statement
"Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 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 Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England," the BCCI statement read.
