India coach Rahul Dravid breaks silence on Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s future after contract snub

The BCCI might have left out the batting duo of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the central contract list for this season, but head coach Rahul Dravid feels they must put this behind them and train harder, score runs in the domestic and come back to wear the blue jersey again.

After India completed a 4-1 series win over England with an innings and 64 run victory in the final Test in Dharamsala on Saturday (March 9), Dravid addressed the elephant in the room and shared his thoughts on the star duo.

While Ishan asked to remain unavailable for selection following South Africa ODIs late last year, citing personal reasons, Iyer complained of back spasms after being left out of India’s squad for the final three Tests (vs England) despite the doctors at the NCA clearing him of any injury issue.

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The Indian board had earlier issued a directive asking the centrally contracted players, who are neither picked in any India squad nor are getting treated at the NCA for any injury, to appear for their respective Ranji teams, pointing fingers at Iyer and Ishan.

After both didn’t abide by the instructions laid by the BCCI, the board sent another warning to the duo; even when both remained unavailable for selection after that, the cricket board took stern action against them by not retaining them in their central contract list for 2023-2024 season.

However, Ishan trained with his IPL team captain, Hardik Pandya, in Baroda, and Iyer made himself available for selection for Mumbai’s semi-final match in the Ranji Trophy.

‘Everyone playing domestic remains in the mix’

While addressing this issue, Dravid said both will remain in contention for selection, adding everyone playing domestic cricket will stay afloat in the mix for India call-up.

"They're always in the mix," Dravid said after India's 4-1 series win over England in Dharmsala on Saturday.

"Everyone who's playing domestic cricket is in the mix. Firstly, I don't decide contracts, right? Contracts are decided by the selectors and the board. I don't even know what the criteria are. I'm involved in - people ask me my opinion on the 15, and me and Rohit select the XI. That's how it works,” the head coach added.

Clearing the air on what happens behind the scenes while picking a squad for a series, Dravid said,"We've never discussed whether somebody has a contract or not, whether he's going to be selected in the 15. There are enough examples of people playing different formats of the game, whether they have contracts or not."

"I don't even know sometimes what the list of the contracted players is when we take these decisions, discussions on the 15 or the playing 11 for that matter. No one's out of the picture, no one's out of the mix, it's just a question of hopefully them getting back and fit, playing cricket, and forcing the selectors to pick them again,” he added.