'Decision lies with Agarkar': Jay Shah on Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan's omission from BCCI contract
Jay Shah puts blame on chief selector Agarkar for dropping Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer from BCCI's contract
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah has opened up on the omission of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the central contract.Speaking at a press conference on Tursday (May 10) he said the decision to drop the players was not his but ofchief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Both Ishan and Shreyas were dropped from the annual contracts of the BCCI before the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) season began for lack of priority towards domestic cricket.The two cricketers also pulled out of international or domestic duties on several occasionswhichledto them getting dropped from the contract.
Shah opens the lid on Ishan,Shreyas
"You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting),"he said during a media interaction at the BCCI head office."That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, evenwhen these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his. My role isjustto implement. And we havegotnew players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable,"he added.
Ishan in December choseto pull out of the Test series against South Africa despite being fit as he was reluctant to play second fiddle to KL Rahul in thewicketkeeper’srole. He was later spotted partying in a Dubai hotel during hisbrother’sbirthday despite having sighted medical issues for pulling out of the South Africa tour.
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While Shreyascomplained of back strain and chose to stay away from the national team during the England home series. However, according to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) report, he was fit to participate for India and Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy season.
ThoughShreyasreturned to play for Mumbai in their title-winning run, Ishan opted to stay away fromJharkhand’sRanji Trophy season and was preparing for the IPL 2024.The situation did not go well with the BCCI and itsselectorswith bothShreyas and Ishan getting dropped from the annual contract.
