Jay Shah Names Man Behind Ishan, Iyer's BCCI Central Contracts Axing

BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Friday revealed that the decision to exclude Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the annual player retainership 2023-24 was taken by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, while asserting that "nobody is indispensable". The two were denied a central contract earlier in February this year after failing to show up for domestic tournaments despite a strict directive from the board.

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were both not named in BCCI's central contract list

Ishan had reportedly taken a mental health break in late December last year, before the start of the Test series against South Africa and remained unavailable for the Test series at home against England and the T20I series against Afghanistan before making his return to IPL.

Iyer, who was dropped from the Indian Test side earlier this year, reportedly missed a few matches in the Ranji Trophy tournament for Mumbai owing to a back injury. However, he faced the wrath of BCCI after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders' camp in Mumbai during that period. He, however, did return to action in the First Class tournament as he featured in the semifinal and final matches for Mumbai.