India’s first World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev, backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s(BCCI) stance, in a move to urge the cricketers to prioritize First Class cricket. He was happy with some players suffering as he backed the BCCI’s decision to terminate central contracts for lack of commitment to domestic cricket. He called it a much-needed step to protect marquee first-class events like the Ranji Trophy.

Earlier, the BCCI announced their annual player retainers for the senior men’s team for the 2023-24 season, the release also mentioned,” The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.

In a massive call, the board excluded Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from central contracts after they failed to turn up for their respective state teams in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season despite not playing international cricket. Iyer was declared fit by the National Cricket Academy (NCA) but he decided not to play for either India or Mumbai in the following week. However, Mumbai have announced that Shreyas Iyer will be part of their squad for their semi-final fixture against Tamil Nadu.

Kishan had taken a break citing personal reasons during their tour of South Africa. He made his return to cricket in the DY Patil T20 tournament which features many international stars like Hardik Pandya, Tilak Verma and others.

Kapil Dev is happy with the BCCI’s decision

Reacting to the big news, Kapil Dev sees the move as a big positive for Indian cricket. Dev said a few players will suffer, but nobody is bigger than the country while backing BCCI’s call.

Speaking in an interview with PTI, Kapil said, “Yes, few players will suffer, kuch logon ko taqleef hogi, hone do lekin desh se badhkar koi nahi hai (some people will feel hurt but let it be because nobody is bigger than the country).”