The BCCI announced the annual players’ contract on Wednesday. India cricketers Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer missed the chance of getting the central contract for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2023-24 season (October 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2024). The development was made clear in a press release that said, “Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations.”

Reports suggest that the termination took place due to their absence in domestic matches, says BCCI secretary Jay Shah. The BCCI also highlighted the importance of participation in domestic matches whenever players are not representing Team India.

Past matches of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer

Ishan, absent from India’s T20I matches since November 2023, returned to competitive cricket during the DY Patil T20 Cup in Mumbai this Tuesday. Despite an early exit from the Australia series for rest, he briefly joined the South Africa tour. Yet, he didn’t feature in any game and was absent from the subsequent T20I series against Afghanistan and the ongoing Test series against England.

Meanwhile, Iyer recently dropped after the first two Tests against England and skipped Mumbai’s quarterfinal against Baroda. However, he’s now included in the squad for the upcoming semi-final against Tamil Nadu in early March.

Full list of players in 2023-24

As per the Wednesday release of the list, players have been divided into 4 groups:

  • Grade A+: The highest list includes four players, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
  • Grade A: Players like R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya are placed in the second category.
  • Grade B: Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
  • Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.

Furthermore, players meeting the criteria of at least three Tests, 8 ODIs, or 10 T20Is within a specified timeframe will be automatically placed in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, each having played two Test matches thus far, will ascend to Grade C if they participate in the upcoming Dharamsala Test Match, the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England.

Additionally, the selection committee has put forth recommendations for Fast Bowling contracts. Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal, and Vidwath Kaverappa have been named in this roster.