Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are seen during a practice session. File
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list of centrally-contracted players was a decision that was solely taken by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has revealed, asserting that “nobody is indispensable”.

Kishan and Iyer were left out after failing to show up for domestic engagements despite a directive from the BCCI. While Kishan went on a long break after the end of the ODI World Cup last year and remained unavailable until the IPL, Iyer eventually did feature in a few matches for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy including the semifinal and the final.

However, Iyer still found himself at the receiving end after it emerged that he had attended a Kolkata Knight Riders’ camp in Mumbai when his domestic side was busy playing a Ranji Trophy fixture.

“You can check the constitution. I am just a convener (of the selection meeting),” he said during a media interaction at the BCCI head office in Mumbai on May 9.

“That decision lies with Ajit Agarkar, even when these two players (Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer) who did not play domestic (cricket), the decision to drop them (from the central contracts list) was only his.

“My role is just to implement. And we have got new players (in place), like Sanju (Samson). Nobody is indispensable,” he added.

Shah reiterated the Board’s position that Indian players will have to prioritise domestic cricket.

In the days leading up to the contract snub, Shah had stated before the third Test between India and England in February this year that he would completely back the chief selector’s decision for any action on players who do not comply with the Indian captain and team management’s requirement for participation in domestic cricket.

Shah said he spoke with the players after their exclusion.

“Yes, I had spoken with them. Media had even carried the reports,” he said.

“Even Hardik (Pandya) said if BCCI is considering me for white-ball, then I am ready to play Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Any player will have to play, even if they do not want to, they will have to,” Shah continued.

Talking about high scores in this year’s IPL, Shah said ultimately, it comes down to who is playing well and who, as a player, can sustain performance.

“Whoever plays well in the IPL… like say Ishan Kishan, he finds it difficult to take part with the Indian team but he can play in Mumbai Indians as a player. There he can play in a relaxed manner.

“In Team India, you have to prove yourself, give back to back performances. The one who can handle that can be described as a right player,” he added.

Shah also revealed details of his conversation with Kishan, which took place after Mumbai Indians’ match against Gujarat Titans.

“No, I did not advise him anything. It was just a friendly talk that he should do well and I speak with all players like that,” he said.

While there have been a few media reports mentioning an increase in the match fees for domestic players in the country, Shah said there is no such plan.

“We have increased the pay anyway and also incentivised Test cricket. We had increased the pay by 100 per cent in 2022,” Shah added.

BCCI secretary Jay Shah. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Living up to its promise of giving highest priority to Test cricket, the BCCI has decided to give an incentive of ₹45 lakh per game to all those who would play 75% or more of the scheduled red-ball games in a particular season, Board secretary Jay Shah said on March 9.

A Test player, who appears in a possible 10 Tests in a season will be richer by a whopping ₹4.50 crore as incentive apart from a possible ₹1.5 crore (₹15 lakh per game) in usual match fee.

The top cricketers also get an assured retainer fee from their annual central contracts.

“I am pleased to announce the initiation of the ‘Test Cricket Incentive Scheme’ for Senior Men, a step aimed at providing financial growth and stability to our esteemed athletes,” Shah stated on ‘X’.

“Commencing from the 2022-23 season, the ‘Test Cricket Incentive Scheme’ will serve as an additional reward structure on top of the existing match fee for Test matches, set at Rs 15 lakh,” he further stated.

The incentives will be retrospective and would factor in players, who were part of Test cricket during the 2022-23 season.

How the math works

To put things in perspective, one can take the example of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who has appeared in all 10 Tests (World Test Championship final, 2 vs West Indies, 2 vs SA, 5 vs England) during the 2023-24 season.

Rohit will get ₹1.5 core (₹15 lakhx10) in usual match fee and for giving priority to Test cricket, he will get another ₹4.5 crore (₹45 lakhx10).

Hence, his earnings from Test cricket alone would stand at ₹6 crore.

Add to it, he has an annual retainership of ₹7 crore per season, which takes his earnings to ₹13 crore.

This obviously excludes his match fees for playing ODIs (₹8 lakh per game) and T20Is (₹4 lakh per game) in a season.

The BCCI, in its explainer, has taken an average of nine Tests in a season. If someone has played less than 50% of the games (4 or less in this case), then he will only get a standard match fee of ₹15 lakh (for being in playing XI) and half that amount for reserves.

However, the moment he plays between 50 to 75% of the games (five to six in case the base figure is nine), then there would be an additional match fee incentive of ₹30 lakh per game.

So a player, who has played six Tests in a season, would get ₹90 lakh as existing match fee (₹15 lakhx6) and incentive of ₹1.8 crore (₹30 lakhx6), which takes his match fee plus incentives to ₹2.70 crore.

Dravid calls it “reward” not “incentive”

Head coach Rahul Dravid welcomed the move from BCCI and termed it as a reward for playing the toughest format.

“Hope money is not going to be the incentive to play Test cricket. It is nice to see that it is a recognition that it is a hard format. Nice that BCCI is recognising that. It is a reward not an incentive,” Dravid said at the end of the 4-1 Test triumph over England in Dharamsala.

The decision was taken after some players like Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar snubbed Ranji Trophy cricket to continue training with their IPL teams despite the Board’s diktat to prioritise red-ball cricket.

“Rohit and I select playing 11. Sometimes I don’t even know who is contracted and who is not. No one is out of the mix,” Dravid said when asked about Test future of Iyer and Kishan.