‘They are talented cricketers’– Irfan Pathan backs Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan after contract removal

Indian cricket fans were shocked after the Indian Cricket Board did not give Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer a central contract. This was decided after Shreyas Iyer skipped Ranji Trophy matches stating injury reasons. Later National Cricket Academy (NCA) revealed that Shreyas Iyer does not have any fresh injury and is fit to play.   

While Ishan Kishan didn’t make himself available for Ranji Trophy games for his state team. Ishan Kishan was been out of cricket action since India's tour of South Africa. He left the team reasoning mental fatigue. Meanwhile, he was seen doing practice with Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya. However, India head coach Rahul Dravid stated in the press conference that if Ishan Kishan wants to come back to the national side, he must play some cricket.

On 28th February, the Indian Cricket Board announced the list of players for the annual contract for the year 2023-24. The main attraction was the exclusion of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer from the list. Even though Shreyas Iyer had a good performance in the ODI 2023 World Cup for India he didn’t make the list. He scored 530 runs in the ODI World Cup 2023 and also scored a century for India in the semi-final against New Zealand. Against England in the first two Test series matches he scored 104 runs. For the last three Test matches against England, he was dropped from the squad.

Irfan Pathan supports Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his support for Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer. He believes that they both will make a strong comeback on the Indian side. He also mentioned how the rules should be the same for each player and questioned how Hardik Pandya's name is on the contract list.

“They are talented cricketers, both Shreyas and Ishan. Hoping they bounce back and come back stronger. If players like Hardik don’t want to play red-ball cricket, should he and others like him participate in white-ball domestic cricket when they aren’t on national duty? If this doesn’t apply to all, then Indian cricket won’t achieve the desired results!” Irfan Pathan tweeted.