In recent years, Indian cricket has followed one rule: if a player gets injured, he will have to come back and prove his fitness and form in domestic cricket in order to regain his place in the national team.
Recently, Jay Shah spoke about this rule and was adamant that this process will continue to be followed in the future. Jay Shah also mentioned that it is because of this rule that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are willing to play in the upcoming season of the Duleep Trophy.
It is to be noted that both Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were removed from the BCCI’s annual central contract list after they were found to be prioritising IPL over domestic cricket in the last season. But both the players have been voluntarily included in the upcoming season of the Duleep Trophy.
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“We must treat our players with respect” – Jay Shah
In an interview with TOI, Jay Shah spoke about the rule of playing local cricket before returning to the national team. Shah claimed that the rule applies to all Indian cricketers except Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, whose workloads are managed carefully. “We have been a bit strict. When Ravindra Jadeja got injured, it was me who called him and asked him to play a local match. Now it is certain that whoever gets injured and gets out, he will only be allowed into the Indian team after proving his fitness for local cricket,” said Jay Shah.
“But there is no point in adding more burden on Virat (Kohli) and Rohit (Sharma) by asking them to play domestic cricket. They risk getting injured. England and Australia also need to be taken into account. None of their best players play domestic cricket. We should treat our players with respect and not treat them like servants,” added Jay Shah.
Jay Shah breaks silence on Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s return to domestic cricket
Shah also mentioned that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are playing in the Duleep Trophy because of the harsh measures he took. Both players faced a lot of criticism last season for prioritising the IPL over domestic cricket.
“If you look at the Duleep Trophy squad, apart from Rohit and Virat, the rest will play. It is because of the tough measures I have taken that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan will play in the Duleep Trophy,” the BCCI secretary said.
Why were Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan removed from BCCI contract list?
Before he was dropped from the BCCI’s annual central contract list, Shreyas Iyer was dropped from India’s Test squad for the home series against England earlier this year due to his poor form. Iyer was told to play domestic matches for Mumbai but he complained of a back problem and was not available for Mumbai’s semi-final match.
During that time, he went to Kolkata to oversee the preparations of his IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders, for the upcoming IPL season. Iyer returned and played the semi-final and final matches for Mumbai, but his contract was not renewed. Under his leadership, KKR managed to clinch the IPL 2024 title. Iyer has been appointed as the captain of Team D in the Duleep Trophy 2024.
Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan was also told to play domestic cricket to make a comeback in the national team. But Kishan did not make himself available for Jharkhand and instead found himself training privately with his IPL captain Hardik Pandya. As a result, he was dropped from the contract list. He is also part of the same squad as Shreyas Iyer in the Duleep Trophy.