'He decided to remove Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from central contract. Not me': Jay Shah reveals

BCCI back in February turned a lot of heads when they decided to sack star Indian batters Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from Central contracts for the 2024-24 season. The decision to drop these big name players was due to Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer not meeting the team captain’s and management's disciplinary and domestic cricket’s demands.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah in his recent press conference has revealed why Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped from central contract. Jay Shah has also revealed that he had no say in dropping Ishan and Kishan and revealed the person who took that call.

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Jay Shah reveals the person who sacked Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer

Jay Shah has revealed that the Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar took the decision of sacking both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the central contracts. The reason behind their dropping was fairly simple, because both the players prioritised not to participate in domestic tournaments like Ranji Trophy.

“You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting). That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, even when these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) who did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his,” said Jay Shah.

Jay Shah further revealed that India has a lot of quality players in the ranks hence no one in the Indian team is indispensable. If players don’t fulfill the requirement and don’t perform as per expectations then they can face the chop.

“We have got new players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable,” said Jay Shah.

Jay Shah further revealed that if players like Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer want to earn their spots back then they have to back that up with their performances and need to have that ability to handle the pressure and scrutiny.

"Ishan Kishan, he finds it difficult to take part with the Indian team but he can play in Mumbai Indians as a player. There he can play in a relaxed manner. In Team India, you have to prove yourself, give back to back performances. The one who can handle that can be described as a right player," said Jay Shah.

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Jay Shah BCCI's stance on Domestic Cricket clear

Jay Shah has made BCCI’s stance very clear on the participation of players in the Domestic tournaments. The selectors have recently laid out guidelines that players need to participate in a certain amount of Domestic Cricket games. And Jay Shah has made it clear that even if players don’t want to they will have to play white Ball cricket. 

(With PTI Inputs)