“That is personal decision of concerned players:” India wicketkeeper on BCCI’s central contracts
Many experts from the cricketing fraternity expressed their views on the announcement of BCCI's annual central contracts list.
Ever since the BCCI announced its annual central contracts, many former cricketers have expressed their views on it. On a positive note, youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal have found entry into the contracts straight into Group B. Jaiswal has been one of India’s most consistent performers in recent times.
T20 regulars like Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma too have made their entry into the list. But seasoned players Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have been snubbed from the list. Iyer and Kishan were recently found to be skipping Ranji Trophy games despite being declared fit by NCA. This did not go down well with the concerned selectors.
Wriddhiman Saha speaks on BCCI’s annual central contracts list
Experienced wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha said that no player can be forced to play domestic cricket. He also added that a player should treat every match as equal.
"That is BCCI's decision and personal decision of concerned players. Forcefully, you can't do anything. Whenever I am fit I play, even I played club matches, office matches as well. I always treat a match as a match. All matches are equal for me. If every player thinks on those lines, they will only prosper in their career and it will be better for Indian cricket as well," the wicketkeeper said as quoted by TOI.
Saha also gave the example of Sarfaraz Khan and stressed the importance of grinding it out in domestic cricket.
"I feel the importance of domestic cricket is always there because if I talk about Sarfaraz Khan, he had scored plenty of runs in the last 4-5 years. Definitely, he has delivered," Saha opined.
Read: Why Hardik Pandya got an upgrade to Grade A in the BCCI contracts
Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s omission from the central contracts list is a strong statement by BCCI to the players. BCCI secretary Jay Shah had recently warned the centrally contracted players not to prioritize IPL over first-class cricket, otherwise it can have severe complications.