Mumbai/IBNS/UNI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Wednesday said that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have not been considered for the annual contracts in this round of annual player contracts for team India for the 2023-24 season.
The BCCI, however, did not give any reason for their omission.
The annual contract announced will be effective from Oct 1, 2023, to Sept 30, 2024.
There are four players in the Grade A+ category, including Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja.
The Grade A category includes Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B players are Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
There are 15 Grade C players. They are 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.
Additionally, players 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 against England, BCCI said.
The Selection Committee also recommended Fast Bowling contracts for Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal, and Vidwath Kaverappa.
The BCCI also recommended that all players give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.
