Batting icon Sunil Gavaskar has come out in support of the Mumbai batter, who is under siege, only days after Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were removed from the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) list of central contracts. Despite expressing sympathy to Shreyas Iyer, the renowned cricket player made a significant statement about Kishan’s choice not to play for the Jharkhand team in the Ranji Trophy.
Shreyas Iyer didn’t feature for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2023/24 quarterfinals, and many believe that this is the reason behind Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion. According to a number of narratives, Iyer told the squad he wasn’t well enough to play in the quarterfinals, but the NCA trainers insisted the right-hander was fit.
Although Gavaskar attempted to comprehend the reasoning behind Iyer’s criticism, he believed that it was extremely improbable that a trainer would pinpoint the player’s precise level of pain.
That seemed to have gone against Shreyas Iyer- Sunil Gavaskar gave reason behind the Mumbai batter’s exclusion
Iyer’s persistent back problems have caused him to be in and out of the Indian team. Additionally, when he played more deliveries, he reportedly complained to the team management about pain in his groin area.
Here’s what Sunil Gavaskar said about Shreyas Iyer’s fitness and contract predicament in his Mid Day column:
“He did miss the quarter-finals, but that was also the time he had informed the team management of his inability to play the third Test match due to some pain in his back if he batted for some length of time,”
“However, the trainers at the NCA certified that his markers were clean and they found him fit to play. That seemed to have gone against Iyer. Threshold of pain is an individual thing and no trainer can judge that,” added Gavaskar.
Nobody still knows why Kishan not turned up- Sunil Gavaskar
During the South Africa series, Ishan Kishan, Iyer’s former teammate and gloveman, decided to take a personal leave from competitive cricket. In the DY Patil T20 competition, though, Kishan just made a comeback prior to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Previously, Kishan was placed in the Grade C category by the BCCI, while Iyer received a Grade B contract. Sunil Gavaskar also brought up the fact that Shreyas Iyer was still playing for Mumbai right before the start of the test series against England, despite Ishan Kishan’s absence from the Ranji Trophy matches for Jharkhand.
Gavaskar appeared to be a little taken aback by the story that Iyer had declined to participate in the Ranji Trophy. On this he wrote:
“Nobody still knows why Kishan has not turned up for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy, while at the time of writing this column, Iyer was in the Mumbai team to play the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. Iyer had also played in the Ranji Trophy game as asked by the Indian team management just before this Test series started, so it’s not as if he has refused to play the Ranji Trophy at all,” Gavaskar elaborated .
In the first innings of the Ranji Trophy 2023–24 semifinal match with Tamil Nadu, Shreyas Iyer did not have a fantastic game as he got out for just three runs off eight deliveries.