Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer Likely To Be Axed From BCCI Central Contracts: Report

Away from international duty, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan continue to keep their distance from the Ranji Trophy for different reasons.

While Kishan has reportedly been ‘working on his technique’ ahead of the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, Iyer is said to struggling with a minor back spasm problem. But, it seems like the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) top brass isn’t entirely happy with Kishan and Iyer, and is likely to leave out the duo from the new central contracts list.

As per a report in the Times of India, both Iyer and Kishan are expected to be omitted from the list of centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season. One of the reasons behind this decision is reportedly their absence from domestic cricket despite the board’s insistence.

“The selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, has almost finalised the list of centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season too, which the BCCI will announce soon.

“Kishan and Iyer are likely to be excluded from that list, as both haven’t been playing domestic cricket despite the BCCI’s diktat to do so,” a source told the paper.

The paper also quoted a source close to Iyer saying that the middle-order batter was left out of the last three Tests against England due to a back problem.

Iyer was “excluded from India’s squad for the last three Tests as a precautionary measure, after he complained of a back problem.” “Patel’s email to the BCCI was written after the second Test against England. Since then, a back problem has bothered Iyer,” the source said. “Iyer was one of India’s top-performing batsmen in the ODI World Cup in India last year. He won’t lose the contract just because he missed the odd Ranji match.”

As far as the 2022-23 central contract goes, Ishan Kishan was placed in the C category, while Shreyas Iyer was in B, earning Rs 1 crore and 3 crores respectively.