The new central contracts for the players have been announced by BCCI. Among the most talked-about names missing from the Central Contract are Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan.
The BCCI also shared the directive that all Indian players need to play domestic cricket for their state if they are not playing for India in international matches.
On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were the only two players who neither played for India nor played domestic cricket for their state.
This was the major reason that both of these players were axed from the Central contract. Many players shared their views regarding the same.
Speaking of the same, Irfan Pathan wrote in his Twitter account, “They are talented cricketers, both Shreyas and Ishan. I hope they bounce back and come back stronger. If players like Hardik don’t want to play red-ball cricket, should he and others like him participate in white-ball domestic cricket when they aren’t on national duty? If this doesn’t apply to all, then Indian cricket won’t achieve the desired results.”.
Another Indian player, Aakash Chopra, said, Hardik Pandya’s case is very simple. He is not playing red-ball cricket.
That ambition or aspiration does not exist anymore. He has not said that as such, but the truth is that he is not available at all for any test series. So if you are not at all auditioning for tests, no one will ask you to play first-class cricket. Why would you play four-day games when you don’t have that much strength in your body to bowl so many overs and have injury problems? So why should he play first-class cricket?”.
Aakash Chopra further added, “If he stops for India despite being fit, If he is on break and doesn’t want to play Syed Mushtaq Ali or Vijay Hazare Trophy for promotion, a video shoot, or other such works, Then you can say he is wrong. But currently, he is not. And why would you punish him if he has not made a mistake?”.
