Harsh steps I took brought Iyer, Kishan back to Duleep Trophy: Jay Shah

Honorary Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Jay Shah patted his own back on the harsh steps taken by the board to bring star players back into the domestic setup and force them to play red-ball cricket for their state units when they are not representing India. 

Counting the return of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer to the domestic setup as success stories of strict policies, Shah said that it is certain that whoever gets injured, can only find their way back into the national side by playing in domestic cricket. 

“If you look at the Duleep Trophy [2024] squad, apart from Rohit and Virat, the rest [India international players] are going to play. It's because of the harsh steps I have taken that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are playing Duleep Trophy,” Shah said to the Times of India. 

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Kishan and Iyer were removed from the central contracts list for 2024-25 after they refused to play domestic cricket while not representing India. Both will be representing their respective state sides Jharkhand and Mumbai in the Buchi Babu Invitational tournament which started on August 15 in Tamil Nadu. It is a curtain raiser for the Duleep Trophy that begins on September 5 in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. 

Using Ravindra Jadeja's example, Shah said,  "We have been a little strict. When Jadeja got injured, I was the one who called him and asked him to play a domestic game. It's certain now, whoever gets injured and goes out can only come into the Indian team after proving his fitness in domestic cricket.”

But this injury-comeback rule does not apply to Virat Kohli and Test and ODI skipper, Rohit Sharma. “It doesn't make sense to add to Virat and Rohit's workload by asking them to play domestic cricket. They run the risk of getting injured,” Shah explained the logic behind the exemption. 

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