Mumbai: The exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list of centrally-contracted players was a decision that was solely taken by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed, asserting that “nobody is indispensable”.
Kishan and Iyer were left out after failing to show up for domestic engagements despite a directive from the BCCI. While Kishan went on a long break after the end of the ODI World Cup last year and remained unavailable until the IPL, Iyer eventually did feature in a few matches for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy including the semifinal and the final.
However, Iyer still found himself at the receiving end after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp in Mumbai when his domestic side was busy playing a Ranji Trophy fixture.
Iyer, who was dropped from the Indian Test side earlier this year, reportedly missed a few matches in the Ranji Trophy tournament for Mumbai owing to a back injury. However, he faced the wrath of BCCI after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp in Mumbai during that period. He, however, did return to action in the First Class tournament as he featured in the semifinal and final matches for Mumbai.
Speaking during a media interaction at the BCCI head office on Thursday, Shah said that he decision to exclude then was always in the hands of the chief selector and that his role was only to implement it.
“You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting),” he said. “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. My role is just to implement. And we have got new players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable.”
Shah also opened up on the details of his conversation with Ishan after Mumbai Indians’ match against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad earlier during IPL 2024.
“No, I did not advise him anything. It was just a friendly talk that he should do well and I speak with all players like that,” he said.
While there have been a few media reports mentioning an increase in the match fees for domestic players in the country, Shah said there is no such plan.
“We have increased the pay anyway and also incentivised Test cricket. We had increased the pay by 100 per cent in 2022,” Shah added.
