Former Indian captain Kapil Dev has supported the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to strictly play domestic cricket. The captain who won the first World Cup for India said on Friday, if the players will suffer due to not getting the annual central contract, then so be it, because no one is greater than the country.
The 65-year-old former all-rounder said that this is a necessary step to save first-class tournaments like Ranji Trophy. BCCI excluded those cricketers from the annual contract issued 2 days ago, who were preparing for IPL after leaving domestic cricket. These include names like Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan.
Kapil said – No one is greater than the country
Kapil Dev said – ‘This is a very good decision. I congratulate BCCI for taking necessary steps to save the status of domestic cricket. I was sad to see that once players established themselves in international cricket, they stopped participating in domestic cricket.
Shreyas did not play Ranji quarter-finals
After scoring 530 runs in the ODI World Cup, Shreyas Iyer also played the South Africa series for the team. He was not made a part of the Afghanistan series again, during which he played Ranji match against Mumbai. Shreyas then got a chance in the first 2 Tests against England but was dropped from the last 3 Tests due to poor form.
After being out of Team India, Shreyas did not play the last match and quarter final of Ranji Trophy group stage against Mumbai. Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) said that he was injured, while the National Cricket Academy (NCA) declared him completely fit. During this time, Iyer took part in the training camp of IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders.
Agreed to play the semi-finals, yet
after being out of contract, Shreyas agreed to play Ranji Trophy. Then Mumbai included him in the Ranji Trophy semi-final team. On Wednesday, BCCI released the central contract, from which Shreyas was left out.
According to reports, while Mumbai was not playing 2 matches, Shreyas was training with IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Angered by this, BCCI did not include him in the contract.
Ishan had taken a break in December
Ishan Kishan had withdrawn his name after joining the team on the South Africa tour in December last year. He took a break from the national team due to personal reasons. Ishaan did not play any competitive cricket for 2 months and now made a comeback from the DY Patil T-20 tournament in February.
Ishaan was not even selected in the team for the Test series against England. On the question of his exclusion, head coach Rahul Dravid had said that Ishaan has not made himself available yet. If he wants to make a comeback, he will have to perform well in domestic cricket.
Ishan still did not play a single Ranji Trophy match for his home team Jharkhand. On the other hand, he started practicing with the Pandya brothers (Krunal and Hardik) in Baroda. Ishaan will also play for Mumbai Indians under the captaincy of Hardik in IPL.
BCCI stressed on playing domestic cricket
While releasing the central contract, BCCI said that all the players will have to play domestic cricket. If contracted players are fit and are not part of the national team, they will have to play domestic cricket. Action will be taken against him if he does not play. Now BCCI took action and removed Shreyas and Ishaan from the contract.
BCCI Secretary Jai Shah had also written a letter to all the players 2 weeks ago. In this also there was mention of playing domestic cricket only.
