File photo of Shreyas Iyer (left) and Ishan Kishan.© BCCI
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh backed the Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan duo after the players were axed from BCCI’s central contracts. Both the stars failed to find a place in the player retention list announced by the country’s apex cricket board at the end of February this year. Harbhajan said that the ouster is not the end of the road for the two players. However, he added that their selection in upcoming series would depend on their form and the requirement of the team.
“Every player is available for the selection process. Now whether they will be selected is a different aspect because it depends on their form and whether the team requires their services. Just because they didn’t get a contract, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the road for them,” Harbhajan told Hindustan Times.
Harbhajan, like many other former cricketers and experts, backed the board’s decision over its latest mandate on domestic cricket.
BCCI, while announcing the central contracts, made it clear that players who are fit and not on national duty need to be available for their respective state teams.
“It’s a learning step for them. Whatever step was taken was for their betterment, that is how they should take it. I look at this in a rather constructive way because from hereon, I feel they could emerge as better players. But we still do not know what was going on in their heads. They are both brilliant cricketers and I feel they will win a lot of matches for India in the future,” said Harbhajan while highlighting the case of Iyer and Kishan.
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