Kishan, Iyer dropped from BCCI central contracts

Skipper Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli retained their place in the top bracket but the out-of-favour duo of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were excluded after ignoring the directive to play Ranji Trophy as the BCCI unveiled its centrally-contracted players for this year on Wednesday. Rohit, Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja figured in the A plus category, the highest bracket of the BCCI's central contracts list."Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," said the BCCI in a statement.
Rishabh Pant, who has been away from action since his horrific car crash in December 2022, was put on Grade B, which also includes Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Pant is likely to make a return in the Indian Premier League this year; Suryakumar, meanwhile, remains one of India's most promising batters in the shortest format.
Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma, however, were among the many new faces included in the central contracts list. The duo was added to the Grade C category, which includes 15 players; Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube, who made strong comebacks to the Indian T20I team, are a part of this category, too. Additionally, Jitesh Sharma, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the Indian T20I team, is also included in the 'C' list.
The Selection Committee has also recommended Fast Bowling contracts for the following athletes – Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.