The Board of Control for Cricket in India has dropped Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the annual player retainerships for 2023-24 amidst controversies involving the duo opting to skip first-class cricket and failing to prioritise Test matches lately.
"Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," an official release from the BCCI read.
Four cricketers, namely: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja were slotted in the top-tier Grade A+ slab, whereas R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya got in the Grade A category.
Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal were put in the Grade B slot, and the Grade C grouping comprises 15 players, namely: 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.
"Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England," the release further explained.
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Additionally, the BCCI further mandated that athletes must give precedence to playing domestic cricket at times when they are not engaged in international cricket commitments. Both Ishan and Iyer were under the scanner for refraining from turning up for Jharkhand and Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season this time around.
