Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer Saga: BCCI's Message Is Clear - Play Domestic Cricket Or Face Consequences

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has walked the talk on its stern policy of players prioritising the traditional format of Test cricket as Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan found themselves losing out on the board's annual player contracts list.

Iyer and Kishan have been missing out on playing domestic cricket despite their absence from the Indian team's engagements including the ongoing Test series against England.

Although, Kishan is currently playing for RBI in the DY Patil T20 Cup and Iyer is expected to feature in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy semifinal against Tamil Nadu at the Bandra-Kurla Complex from March 2nd, it seems their return to action has come a bit too late in this regard.

Clear message from Indian cricket board

The board has made it clear categorically in its media advisory issued on Wednesday that they expect athletes to prioritise domestic cricket.

"The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team,'' read the last line of the advisory issued by BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

"Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,'' the BCCI advisory made it clear regarding the India players who have been on the radar of the board for ignoring their directive to play domestic cricket.

BCCI Central contracts

Four of India's top players comprising Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja feature in the Grade A+ category.

The iconic Ravichandran Ashwin, sensational Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya have been handed Grade A contracts.

Grade B comprises the likes of Mr 360 Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C consists of 15 young cricketers emerging on the Indian cricketing scene with Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur part of the list.