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BCCI secretary Jay Shah made it clear that the centrally contracted players will have to play domestic cricket if they are not involved in international matches. Recently, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were axed from their annual contracts after they refused to play in the Ranji Trophy.
In Ishan’s case, he missed the entire Ranji season, which infuriated chief selector Ajit Agarkar while Iyer decided to opt out of Mumbai’s Ranji quarterfinal match against Baroda, citing back pain, which NCA later clarified that the cricketer was fit enough to play. Even though by then the 29-year-old revealed that he would be playing in the semi-final, BCCI decided to punish him regardless.
Meanwhile, a lot of players in domestic cricket, skipped the Ranji Trophy this year to focus on the upcoming edition of the IPL. Speaking on the same, veteran cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin opined that BCCI is prioritizing Test cricket, which is the right call according to him. He added that it’s up to the players if they want to cricket for 12 months or just two.
Also Read – R. Ashwin reveals how K. Srikkanth helped him earn his first IPL contract
“What we must understand here is the message being conveyed by the organisational body here, it said we are prioritising Test cricket, IPL is not everything as far as we are concerned. They are saying Test cricket is of paramount importance, we are going to promote it and we expect people eligible to play this format. In my view, they are making all the right noises,” Ashwin was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
“At the same time, whether a cricketer wants to do all the 12 months, or only want to do the two months or whether they want to be relevant playing T20 cricket and one-day cricket and do not want to be playing Test cricket, is their choice,” he added.
Ashwin opens up on Cricket Twitter
Over the last few years, social media, particularly Twitter (now X) has become a massive part of the cricketing world. Fans on the internet share their views on a particular move or at times even suggest teams for a different combination. Speaking on the same, Ashwin mentioned that things have changed in recent times and added that the selection committee is there for a reason, so they don’t look for those inputs.
“Now things have changed. There is a cricket Twitter war going on, on who should be there in the squad, what are the reasons somebody is selected. At the end of the day, we need to understand that there is a selection committee and things will have to happen according to what the team requires,” the 37-year-old mentioned.
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