BCCI remove Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan and Cheteshwar Pujara from list of newly announced central contracts

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have removed Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the central contracts list for 2023-24. Former Test No. 3 batter Cheteshwar Pujara, who has not played international cricket after being dropped from the team last year, also finds himself without a central contract.

Both Iyer and Kishan were under scrutiny for missing the 2024 Ranji Trophy due to personal and fitness-related reasons. BCCI secretary Jay Shah reportedly issued a warning to several domestic cricketers, asking them to not prioritize other tournaments over domestic cricket.

Iyer and Kishan were alleged to have skipped the Ranji Trophy in order to be fit for the upcoming IPL.

"Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," BCCI said in a statement. "The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team."

While Shreyas and Pujara were in Grade B contract last year, Kishan was in Grade C.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj and Shubman Gill have received Grade A contracts and 15 athletes are under Grade C, which now doesn't include the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Deepak Hooda.

Full list of grade-wise BCCI annual player contracts

Grade A+ (4 Athletes)

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade A (6 Athletes)

R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B (5 Athletes)

Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C (15 Athletes)

Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, 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.

"Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England," the BCCI said.

Five upcoming pacers Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa have also received recommendations for contracts.