The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it a rule that all players with central contracts, who are healthy and not on national duty, must play in domestic cricket. Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have faced the Board’s anger for not playing domestic cricket when they could have. The two players were not included in the list of central contracts announced by BCCI earlier this year because they missed domestic games even though they were fit and not playing internationally.
Both Iyer and Kishan will be part of the upcoming Duleep Trophy, which starts on September 5. BCCI secretary Jay Shah has said that the two players decided to join the tournament because of BCCI’s strict actions.
“If you check the Duleep Trophy team, besides Rohit and Virat, the others are set to play. This is due to the tough measures I’ve implemented. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are participating in the Duleep Trophy,” Jay Shah shared with Times of India.
“We’ve been somewhat strict. When Ravindra Jadeja was injured, I was the one who contacted him and suggested he play in a local match. It’s clear now that anyone who gets injured and leaves the team can only return after showing their fitness in domestic cricket,” he further explained.
Some important players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah have been given a break to help them stay healthy. India will play their next match in a month. They will face Bangladesh in two Test matches, starting on September 19.
“It’s not a good idea to make Virat and Rohit play more games by having them play in local cricket. They could get hurt. We should also look at how England and Australia handle their top players. None of their best players play in local cricket. We need to treat our players nicely and not like workers,” said the person in charge of the BCCI.