“Forcefully, you can’t do anything” – Wriddhiman Saha on Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s snub from BCCI annual contract

India’s wicket-keeper bat Wriddhiman Saha reckons a player can not be forced to play in domestic circuit if they are not willing to do that. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were excluded from BCCI central contract list, which was released by the Indian board for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday.

The reason for Iyer and Kishan’s exclusion is the fact that they skipped playing for India and also didn’t represent their respective states in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

Saha said he treated all matches equally and played whenever he was fit to play at any level.

On the duo exclusions, Saha said, as quoted by TOI: “That is BCCI’s decision and personal decision of concerned players. Forcefully, you can’t do anything. Whenever I am fit I play, even I played club matches, office matches as well. I always treat a match as a match. All matches are equal for me. If every player thinks on those lines, they will only prosper in their career and it will be better for Indian cricket as well.”

Citing Sarfaraz Khan’s example, Saha said it is imperative for the players to play in domestic circuit.

“I feel the importance of domestic cricket is always there because if I talk about Sarfaraz Khan, he had scored plenty of runs in the last 4-5 years. Definitely, he has delivered.”

On the other hand, Saha showered praise on Dhruv Jurel for his fine performance in the Ranchi Test against England. Jurel returned with impressive scores of 90 and 39* in the fourth Test and Saha said the youngster won the game for the team.

“I have never seen him (Jurel) in domestic cricket, even in Test matches I have seen in him highlights. But his batting is outstanding, he won the last Test for the team,” said Saha.

“It is always good to see that your reserve bench is ready, whenever somebody is getting chance. Over that, some players are getting opportunity but don’t want to play, which they shouldn’t. Whenever you get a chance to play, you should play whether it is red ball or white ball,” he added.

The fifth and final Test match will be played at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala from March 7.