Ishan Kishan continues to skip Ranji Trophy despite BCCI directive

The trio of Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Deepak Chahar were specifically instructed to play for their respective domestic teams in the last round of the league phase of the Ranji Trophy 2024. However, they have opted to skip the fixtures for unspecified reasons.

Iyer has been dealing with lower back and groin issues and that could be the reason behind his absence. His domestic side, Mumbai, have already qualified for the quarterfinals and are currently playing against Assam in their last fixture in the league stage.

The right-handed batter, who was a part of India's squad for the first two Tests of their five-match series against England, managed scores of 35, 13, 27, and 29 in the four innings he played. Iyer was subsequently left out for the last three Tests.

Also read: Ishan Kishan training with Hardik, Krunal in Baroda

Meanwhile, Kishan is currently in Baroda, where he is training with his new Mumbai Indians captain - Hardik Pandya. The talented wicketkeeper-batter had asked for a break midway through India's tour of South Africa. Jharkhand are languishing at No. 7 on the points table in Elite Group A and have no chance of progressing to the knockouts. They are playing their last league game against Rajasthan and the talented Kumar Kushagra is continuing with his wicketkeeping duties.

There is no specific update about Chahar's unavailability. The Chennai Super Kings pacer made his last international appearance in December 2023 against Australia.

Recently, BCCI secretary Jay Shah was asked about centrally-contracted players skipping domestic matches. He said that he would send a directive that all fit centrally-contracted players needed to make themselves available for selection in domestic cricket.

"If you are fit then no excuse will be entertained. This applies to all centrally contracted players, they have to play. The player cannot decide his future, the selectors need to decide that. If the player is good in red-ball, he has to play," Shah said.

Also Read: 'Not going to tolerate any tantrums' - Jay Shah's no-nonsense directive to centrally contracted players regarding domestic cricket