NEW DELHI: Former India captain
Sourav Ganguly
expressed his surprise at seeing players like
Shreyas Iyer
and
Ishan Kishan
, who were cut from the national team, not playing in
domestic cricket
.
Iyer and Kishan, international players for India, were cut from their central contracts with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (
BCCI
) on Wednesday due to the controversy surrounding their non-participation in the current
Ranji Trophy
.
Iyer was already ruled out of from the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal, which took place on February 23.
Despite not playing for the national squad, Kishan recently skipped Ranji Trophy matches. 'Personal issues' caused him to withdraw from the Indian squad for the Test series against South Africa that was played last year. He skipped Ranji matches involving Jharkhand in November of last year in order to play in a
T20I
for India.
The 51-year-old claimed that because the Ranji Trophy is a prestigious competition, all players should participate in it and that the BCCI wants them to play
first-class cricket
.
"I think the BCCI wants them to play first class cricket. I am surprised why Shreyas Iyer has not played Ranji Trophy. It is a premier tournament and you are supposed to play. So, it is a decision by BCCI and what they have thought right they have done. Every contracted cricketer must play first class cricket because that is the basic premise of cricket in this country," Ganguly told Revsportz.
The former president of the BCCI went on to say that Kishan's choice to skip the Ranji Trophy caught him off guard.
"You are supposed to play first class cricket. Once you are a contracted player, you are expected to play the Premier tournament. Shreyas Iyer is playing the semi-final for Mumbai in a couple of days' time. Yes, they are young people and Ishan has surprised me. He was part of the
Indian team
in all formats. Such a big contract in IPL. I don't know why he has done that. You must play especially when you are as gifted as Ishan Kishan. When you are playing for India in all formats, you must play. I was surprised by his decision not to," the former left-hand opener added.
(With ANI inputs)
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