Shreyas Iyer’s dismal form in domestic cricket continued as he was dismissed after scoring just seven runs for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha on Sunday. Iyer has struggled against the short ball in the past and that was exactly the strategy that his former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate Umesh Yadav employed to end his innings. Umesh bowled four short deliveries in a row to the right-hander before an outswinger that struck Iyer’s inside edge. The ball flew to Karun Nair in the first slip and the fielder made no mistake in completing the catch and piled on Iyer’s misery. The India batter has not performed well in the two Ranji matches since BCCI’s central contract snub.
Earlier. India head coach Rahul Dravid shared a message for out-of-favour batters Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan that they need to get fit, play and force selectors to ‘pick them again’.
Last month, Iyer and Jaiswal were “not considered” for the BCCI annual contracts in this round of recommendations.
After both players were snubbed from the contracts, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah highlighted the importance of domestic cricket forms and stated that “non-participation in domestic cricket will carry severe implications.”
Kishan has yet to feature for India in any format since opting out of the South Africa series last year. Shreyas was selected for the first two tests but got dropped for the remaining three matches. He opted out of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash against Baroda due to back spasms and failed to make an impression in the semi-final against Tamil Nadu.
“They’re always in the mix. Everyone who’s playing domestic cricket is in the mix. Firstly, I don’t decide contracts, right? Contracts are decided by the selectors and the board. I don’t even know what the criteria are. I’m involved in – people ask me my opinion on the 15, and me and Rohit select the XI. That’s how it works,” Dravid said in the post-match press conference after India’s victory in the fifth Test on Saturday.
“We’ve never discussed whether somebody has a contract or not, whether he’s going to be selected in the 15. There are enough examples of people playing different formats of the game, whether they have contracts or not. I don’t even know sometimes what the list of the contracted players is, when we take these decisions, discussions on the 15 or the playing 11 for that matter. No one’s out of the picture, no one’s out of the mix, it’s just a question of hopefully them getting back and fit, playing cricket, and forcing the selectors to pick them again,” he added.
(With ANI inputs)
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