Indian cricket board drops Iyer and Kishan from annual contracts list

SHREYAS IYER and Ishan Kishan were not considered for annual contracts for the 2023-24 season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said last Wednesday (28).

Iyer was on a Grade B contract last year while Kishan had a Grade C contract. But despite playing in the 50-over World Cup last year, both were not considered in this round of recommendations, the BCCI said while announcing the list of 30 players who had been handed contracts.

Iyer was one of seven batters to score over 500 runs at the World Cup. But both players have not turned out for their state teams in the domestic Ranji Trophy after being left out of the Indian national team.

“The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” the BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

Skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been retained in Grade A+ contracts, worth `70 million (£667,286) last year. “Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis,” Shah added.

“For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played two Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala match, ie, the fifth Test of the ongoing series against England.” The BCCI player contracts for 2023-24:

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

 Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed 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.