The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it mandatory for all centrally contracted players to play domestic cricket. Cricketers who are fit and not on national duty will have to play domestic tournaments. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have fallen victim to not following the board’s instructions. Both these players were excluded from the list of central contracts announced by the BCCI earlier this year, as they could not play domestic matches despite being fit and away from the international circuit.
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan playing the Duleep Trophy
Both Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are now participating in the Duleep Trophy. The tournament will start from September 5. BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that both the players have taken this decision after the strict action of BCCI.
Jay Shah’s Straight Talk On Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan.
He said, “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. It’s certain now, whoever… pic.twitter.com/2gk6gvisHS
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Talking to TOI, Jai Shah said, “If you look at the Duleep Trophy team, apart from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the rest of the players will play. It is because of the strict steps taken by me that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are playing the Duleep Trophy.”
Fitness has to be proved – ‘We have been a little strict. When Ravindra Jadeja was injured, it was I who called him and asked him to play domestic matches. Now it is certain that whoever goes out due to injury can come into the Indian team only after proving his fitness in domestic cricket.’ Under workload management, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been allowed to rest. India will now play their next match after a month. A two-match Test series will be played against Bangladesh from September 19.
Jai Shah said, ‘It does not make any sense to put more burden on Virat and Rohit by asking them to play domestic cricket. They are at risk of getting injured. You also have to look at England and Australia. None of their top players play domestic cricket. We should treat our players with respect and not treat them like servants.’
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