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After BCCI omitted Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from their annual central contracts list, their international careers came to a literal standstill. But if the BCCI sources are to be believed, both Indian cricketers could get the contract after the IPL 2024, if they get selected for the national team and fulfill their criteria of a certain number of matches.
Notably, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual central contracts in the current round of recommendations by the BCCI, while they awarded new deals to 30 top players in India. Iyer and Kishan didn’t get the contracts from the BCCI because they got involved in preparing themselves for the IPL 2024, rather than following the directive of playing for their state teams in the Ranji Trophy.
The press release from BCCI about the announcement of the central contracts had peculiar information wherein they “recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.”
It led to a BCCI official addressing the matter of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan with ESPNcricinfo and said, “The selectors don't doubt their ability. But if the NCA is saying you are fit and you are not making yourself available for the Test series, how can the BCCI offer you a contract?”
“After the IPL, if they happen to get selected and fulfill the criteria of the number of matches required for a pro-rata contract, they will be awarded a contract,” added the BCCI official.
Moreover, Shreyas Iyer was one of the top performers for India in the recently concluded ODI World Cup 2023, scoring over 530 runs at an average of 66.25 and strike-rate of 113.25 with two hundred and three fifties. Ishan Kishan, who was also part of the ODI World Cup 2023 squad, has a double hundred to his name for India in the 50 overs format.
