On Wednesday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India released the annual contract list for senior men players. The list also had the name of Hardik Pandya, who has been out of action since October last year, in the Garde A category.
However, at the same time, it didn’t have the names of key Indian players like Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan. As per the reports, the reason behind the termination of their contracts was their decision to opt out of the Ranji Trophy matches for their respective teams, despite given warnings by BCCI.
Hardik Pandya had been regular with white ball cricket before acquiring an ankle injury during the 2023 ICC World Cup clash against Bangladesh in Pune which kept him out of action. He is now making a comeback to competitive cricket by participating in the DY Patil T20 Cup, which started on February 26. However, Pandya has not been participating in Test cricket that regularly, as the selection committee believes his body won’t be able to handle that much workload.
But the ex-Indian player Irfan Pathan believes that criteria should be the same for everyone and if Hardik cannot take part in International Test matches, he should also play domestic white ball cricket. At the same time, he wished Ishan and Shreyas luck and pushed them to make a comeback.
Pathan wrote on X, "They are talented cricketers, both Shreyas and Ishan. Hoping 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!”
Ishan, who has been out of action since he opted out of the Test against South Africa in December last year, had reportedly started practicing for IPL with the Pandya brothers in the Kiran More cricket academy. BCCI had issued a stern warning to various top players, asking them to prioritize domestic cricket, failing to do so can lead to ‘severe implications’. However, Ishan still didn’t play the Ranji Trophy match for Bihar.
Shreyas, on the other hand, opted out of the Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash between Mumbai and Baroda citing back pain. His claim was denied by the Head of Sports Sciences and Medicine at the National Cricket Academy, Nitin Patel, who wrote to the Mumbai Cricket Association that as per the recent reports, Iyer was fit to play and had not acquired any fresh injury. The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, however, later made himself available to represent Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Tamil Nadu.
Jay Shah wrote a letter to top players, asking them to prefer domestic cricket and participate in it when not representing the national team. He wrote, “Our vision for Indian cricket has been clear from the outset – every cricketer aspiring to play for India must prove themselves in domestic cricket. Performance in domestic cricket remains a critical yardstick for selection and non-participation in domestic cricket will carry severe implications.”
“There is a recent trend that has started to emerge and is a cause for concern. Some players have begun prioritizing the IPL over domestic cricket, a shift that was not anticipated. Domestic cricket has always been the foundation upon which Indian cricket stands, and it has never been undervalued in our vision for the sport,” he further added.
