Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has backed the BCCI's decision to terminate the central contracts of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer for not playing domestic cricket despite being fit and eligible for selection.
The BCCI annual retainerships for 2023-24 was announced on Wednesday but the names of Iyer and Kishan did not feature in any of the Grades.
Mixed reactions
The board informed in its press release that "Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations."
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The decision was met with mixed reactions from fans and cricket pundits on social media.
Manjrekar hails BCCI's decision
Manjrekar is of the opinion that the Indian cricket board has sent out the right message by excluding Iyer and Kishan from its annual retainership.
"Well done to @BCCI for rewarding players who want to play the tough cricket and only for one reason…to face the ‘acid test’ as cricketers," Manjrekar tweeted while Irfan Pathan wrote, "unbelievable."
Why are Kishan and Iyer being punished?
Controversy erupted when Kishan chose to train for the upcoming IPL 2024 with his Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya despite being asked by the board to play in the Ranji Trophy for Jharkhand.
Kishan, who took a personal break from cricket due to mental fatigue on the tour of South Africa in December, went to Baroda instead to prepare for the upcoming IPL season with the Pandya brothers. He returned to competitive cricket in the DY Patil T20 Cup on Tuesday where he scored 19 off 11 balls for RBI.
Iyer on the other hand, was declared fit for selection by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) even though the cricketer himself pulled out of the Ranji Trophy for Mumbai citing a back injury. Iyer was later named in Mumbai's squad for their upcoming semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting March 2.
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