Shreyas Iyer's, Ishan Kishan's international career comes to a halt? Former Indian legend reveals life after losing Central Contracts

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has thrown his support behind Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer after the two lost their central contracts. Last month, the BCCI announced the list of centrally contracted players and neither Kishan nor Iyer was a part of the 30-man list.

Kishan had a Grade C while Iyer was in grade B. The BCCI took the big call after both the players ignored their directive of playing in the Ranji Trophy. In its media release for the central contract, the board stated that Iyer and Kishan “were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations”.

The BCCI also reiterated its stance on domestic cricket, stating that “all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team”. The BCCI’s decision has divided opinions in the cricketing fraternity. While many believe that the board was right to take action against the players for not giving importance to domestic cricket, many believe that the call was harsh.

Harbhajan Singh on BCCI’s decision regarding Indian cricketers:

Harbhajan Singh has also shared his views on the entire episode. The former India spinner stated that while losing central contracts is not the end of the road for both players, he predicted a tough rough ahead for the duo. The India great also said that every player is available for selection.

“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 Singh told Hindustan Times.

Speaking further, Harbhajan Singh urged Iyer and Kishan to learn from the entire episode and backed them to emerge as better players. At the same time, the former cricketer also expressed his surprise over the way Iyer and Kishan conducted themselves which saw them lose the central contracts.

“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 here on, 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.