Pakistan’s wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal agrees. He thinks the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) made a good decision. They ended the central contracts of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer.
Akmal responded to Iyer’s apparent unwillingness to play first-class matches, saying that a veteran player should set a better example for the younger players. In his recent YouTube video, he says:
“Shreyas Iyer played the first two Tests of the series. If you don’t value the cricket because of which you made it to the national team, what message is it going to give to all the youngsters?”
Kamran Akmal
It is worth noting that Shreyas Iyer played Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy 2024 match against Andhra despite being dropped out of India’s T20I team for the Afghanistan home series. In the first inning, he drove in 48 runs.
The right-handed batter has also been picked to Mumbai’s team for the forthcoming semifinals against Tamil Nadu, which will be contested in Mumbai from March 2 to 6.
Kamran Akmal praises BCCI for terminating Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s contracts
Kamran Akmal praised the BCCI for not keeping Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan on their new central contract list. He believed that following this decision, no other player would consider withdrawing from first-class matches.
The 42-year-old praised the BCCI, adding:
“BCCI has made the right call, taking such strict action early on to control the damage. If they had given them a levy and handed them central contracts, a lot more players would have started playing on their own terms in the future. India have given a message to their players to ensure that nobody even thinks of doing something like this the next time. This is proof of good management. Nobody is bigger than the game.”
Kamran Akmal
Given his poor red-ball cricket performance, Iyer will be the focal point of the Ranji Trophy 2024 semifinals. His last half-century in Test cricket occurred in December 2022, against Bangladesh.