If selectors ask, you have to play red-ball cricket: Shah on contacted & targetted cricketers playing domestic tournaments

RAJKOT : BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said that centrally contracted and targetted players cannot skip domestic tournaments, especially red-ball cricket, unless otherwise specified by the National Cricket Academy.

After the controversy of players skipping domestic Ranji matches while preparing for Indian Premier League season, there had been reports that the board is making it mandatory for the players to take part in domestic cricket.

Speaking about the subject on the sidelines of an event at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot, Shah said, “They have been informed on 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.”

He added that unless the NCA says that the player cannot cope with the workload of all the formats, the young and fit players who are in the scheme of things are expected to play domestic cricket and the selectors will have the freedom act accordingly in this regard.

“Whatever advice we get from the NCA, say suppose somebody’s body is not able to handle both white-ball and red-ball cricket, so we do not want to impose anything in that regard.