Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan axed from BCCI central contracts

The top tier of the BCCI's annual central contracts remains unchanged, featuring Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja in the A+ category. However, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan do not feature in the roster of 30 contracted players, which marks an increase from 26 in 2023.

Iyer recently represented India in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam and played a significant role in the India ODI squad during the World Cup in October. 

However, both Iyer and Kishan find themselves excluded from the contract list as part of a restructuring initiative by the BCCI, urging players not to prioritize IPL preparations over domestic cricket. 

Iyer, citing back issues, opted to skip the Ranji Trophy quarter-final but is now back with the Mumbai squad for the upcoming semi-final starting on March 2.

 Meanwhile, Kishan, who took a break from the game and missed the entire Ranji Trophy, made a return to action in the DY Patil T20 tournament on Tuesday.

A BCCI release on Wednesday said Iyer and Kishan "were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations" along with a reiteration of its recent stance that "all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team".

The second tier of central contracts (Grade A) includes R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya. Grade B welcomes a new addition in 22-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal. This marks his inaugural BCCI central contract, acknowledging his contributions to Test cricket since making his debut in July 2023. He achieved consecutive double-centuries in the ongoing series against England.

Alongside Jaiswal, Grade B features Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel.

The final tier comprises numerous T20 specialists, such as Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, 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.

Siraj, Rahul, and Gill are newcomers to Grade A, all having been promoted from Grade B. Pant, who has not played in over a year following a harrowing car crash in December 2022, and Axar have moved down to Grade B from Grade A.

Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda, and Yuzvendra Chahal have been entirely omitted, with several new names taking their places: Jaiswal in Grade B, Rinku, Tilak, Gaikwad, Dube, Bishnoi, Jitesh, Mukesh, Prasidh, Avesh, and Patidar in Grade C.

The BCCI has not disclosed the amounts for the four contract categories. In the previous contract period, A+ was INR 7 crore, A was INR 5 crore, B was INR 3 crore, and C was INR 1 crore.

Full BCCI central contracts list

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

Grade A: R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya

Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar