The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual retainership for senior men’s team cricketers for the 2023-24 cycle on February 28. Notably, despite their participation in India’s ODI World Cup campaign the previous year, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were omitted from the annual retainership contract list.

✅🚨 SHOCKING NEWS:

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BCCI have REMOVED Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from annual contracts, not even Grade C and also announced they were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations. pic.twitter.com/leDMfsdaTZ

— KKR Vibe (@KnightsVibe) February 28, 2024

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In contrast, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja were retained in the top bracket (A+), with a total of 30 players included in the central contracts list. The exclusion of Iyer and Kishan from the annual retainership contract was attributed to their limited involvement in the ongoing domestic cricket season. Previously, Ishan Kishan held a Grade C contract, while Shreyas Iyer was categorized under Grade B for the retainership contracts in the 2022-23 season.

“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the BCCI said in a statement.

BCCI CONTRACTS FOR 2023-24:

Grade A+

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade A

R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B

Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C 

Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.

Also Read: ICC Rankings: Yashasvi Jaiswal Overtakes Team India Star In Tests