(Reuters) – Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for annual contracts for the 2023-24 season, India’s cricket board (BCCI) said on Wednesday when they announced a list of 30 players who had been handed contracts.
Iyer was on a Grade B contract last year while Kishan was handed a Grade C contract but despite playing in the 50-over World Cup last year, the BCCI said both players were not considered in this round of recommendations.
Iyer was one of seven batters to score over 500 runs at the World Cup. But both Iyer and Kishan have not played for their state teams in the Ranji Trophy when they were dropped from the Indian national team.
“The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
Skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been retained in Grade A+ contracts, which were worth 70 million rupees ($844,240) last year.
“Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of three tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis,” Shah added.
“For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played two test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala test match, i.e., the fifth test of the ongoing series against England.”
BCCI PLAYER CONTRACTS FOR 2023-24
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya
Grade B: Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal
Grade C: 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.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru)