Irfan Pathan : Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has raised questions on BCCI's central contract 2023-24. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have not been included, although both deserved it. Pathan has supported Shreyas and Ishan and raised questions on BCCI as they have included a player like Hardik Pandya in Grade-A. Whereas Iyer and Ishaan have not been included in any grade.
Pathan fiercely targeted BCCI
Posting on social media, Irfan wrote, “Shreyas and Ishaan both are talented cricketers. Hope they come back. If a player like Hardik doesn't want to play red-ball cricket, should he and other players like him participate in white-ball domestic cricket when not on national duty? If this is not implemented across the board, Indian cricket will not be able to achieve the desired results!”
Ishan and Iyer pass BCCI's test
As per BCCI norms, a player is included in the central contract if he has played 3 Tests, 8 ODIs or 10 T20 matches from October 1 till the announcement of the central contract. Both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer fit in this. Even after five matches, he did not get a place in the central contract.
Ishaan and Iyer did not get a place in the central contract
The surprising thing is that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer did not get a place in the central contract because they did not give importance to Ranji Trophy. A lot of injustice has been done to Shreyas Iyer, because he played Ranji Trophy after the South Africa tour and after that was also a part of the Test team. Not only this, he is going to play the semi-finals, but the selectors have treated him in the same way as they treated Ishaan.
double attitude of selectors
Irfan Pathan targeted the selectors for this reason and said that if you keep a player like Hardik Pandya in Grade 1 who does not even play Test cricket then why are you doing the same with Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. Just as Hardik does not play Test, Ishaan also does not want to play Test, then why is he being treated like this. While Kuldeep Yadav played all three formats, he was placed in Grade-B.