BCCI secretary Jay Shah clarified on Wednesday that the centrally contracted players of the Indian cricket team will be obliged to play in domestic tournaments.
While interacting with the media on the sidelines of the renaming of the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Shah said the chairman of selectors will be given a free hand to take a call on his own if a player refuses to follow instructions given by the team management.
“They have been informed on the phone already and I’m going to write letters as well that if your chairman of selectors, your coach and your captain are asking for it, then you will have to play red-ball cricket,” Shah told the media.
Shah’s statement comes in the aftermath of players like Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya ruling themselves out of red-ball competitions but making themselves available for white-ball tournaments like the IPL. The absence of star players from the longer formats of the game takes a toll on the viewership of the game and puts the future of the longer formats in danger.
