Consequences! Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan dropped from BCCI central contracts after Ranji debacle

Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer were on Wednesday excluded from the BCCI central contracts. The development comes after the duo went against a BCCI directive asking to pad up for the Ranji Trophy tournament. 

Iyer was on a category B contract last year, while Kishan was handed a category C contract. Both of them were part of last year's ODI World Cup squad that finished runners-up behind Australia.

"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.

"The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team," the statement added.

The 25-year-old Kishan did not turn up for Jharkhand throughout the team's campaign in Ranji Trophy despite not being on national duty since leaving from the tour of South Africa in December last, citing personal reasons.

He has instead focussed on preparing for the IPL next month.

Iyer did not make himself available for Mumbai's Ranji quarterfinal against Baroda after being excluded from the Indian team following the second Test against England.

He, however, has been picked for the Ranji semifinals starting March 2.

Meanwhile, captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja figured in the A plus category, the highest bracket of the BCCI's central contract.

Ravi Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya made it to the A category while Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal got B category contracts.

Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar featured in the C category.

Cricketers are normally paid Rs 7 crore per annum in A plus bracket, Rs 5 crore in A, Rs 3 crore in B and Rs 1 crore in the C category, over and above their match fees.

- With Agency inputs