Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer – these two Indian cricket team stars have been in the news for the last couple of months. Ishan Kishan made news when he took a break from India’s Tour of South Africa while Shreyas Iyer was dropped from the India squad for the last three Tests against England. Then reports claimed than Ishan Kishan’s reluctance to play in Ranji Trophy games was seen in a bad light by the BCCI top brass. On Shreyas Iyer, contradictory reports came when he made himself unavailable from a Ranji Trophy match.
On Wednesday, both the stars’ names were missing from BCCI’s Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season (October 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2024).
Here’s a time-line of how the events unfolded.
December 17, 2023: Ishan Kishan takes a break midway from India’s Tour of South Africa. “Ishan Kishan has requested the BCCI to be released from the upcoming Test series against South Africa citing personal reasons. The wicket-keeper has subsequently been withdrawn from the Test squad,” the BCCI said.
January, 2024: Ishan Kishan not picked for T20I series against Afghanistan and Test series against England.
Januaary 25-February 05, 2024: Shreyas Iyer returns with poor scores from the first two Tests against England. His scores are 35, 13, 27, 29.
February 05, 2024: Rahul Dravid‘s clear message on Ishan Kishan: “Whenever he (Ishan Kishan) is ready, I didn’t say he has to play domestic cricket, I said whenever he is ready, he needs to play some cricket and come back. The choice is his. We are not forcing him to do anything.”
February 10, 2024: Squad for final three Tests against England announced. Shreyas Iyer’s name missing. “If Shreyas was to be rested because of injury, the BCCI medical bulletin would have had an update. Since there are no updates, it can be concluded that he has got the axe,” a source had told news agency PTI then.
February 15, 2024: BCCI Secretary Jay Shah made it clear on Wednesday that all centrally contracted cricketers will have to mandatorily play red-ball cricket in the domestic circuit and the management will not tolerate any kind of excuses in the matter.
February 16, 2024: Ishan Kishan’s absence from Ranji Trophy continued as the wicketkeeper-batter, who plays domestic cricket for Jharkhand, skipped the final round of matches that started on this date.
February 22, 2024: Indian cricket team batter Shreyas Iyer made himself unavailable for Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinals citing injury concerns but the National Cricket Academy (NCA) has said that he has no ‘fresh injuries’, according to a report by Indian Express.
February 22, 2024: A gym session video of Ishan Kishan with Hardik Pandya goes viral.
February 23, 2024: A report in Times of India says Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer may be axed from BCCI central contract list.
February 27, 2024: Ishan Kishan makes a return to competitive cricket at the DY Patil T20 Cup while Shreyas Iyer named in Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semi-final squad.
February 28: Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer axed from BCCI contracts list. “Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the BCCI said.
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