Why is Ishan Kishan not included in central contracts? Aakash Chopra reveals the reason

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has revealed the reason behind Ishan Kishan’s absence in the newly announced central contracts list for the 2025-26 season by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Speaking exclusively on his YouTube channel, Chopra made it clear that with the observation period for the contract being from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, the Indian cricket board didn’t include Kishan, who took a brief break from the game during that period. 

However, he is optimistic about Kishan’s name being included in the near future, with the opening batter making his comeback to the national set-up for the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, in India and Sri Lanka. Moreover, Chopra also reckoned that Shami’s future looks bleak in the international arena.

"Ishan Kishan's name isn't there because the observation period was from 1st Oct 2024 to 30th Sep 2025. What you did during that time period was important. You have been given contracts and the categories have been made after evaluating that. Ishan didn't play at all in that period. In fact, he had even taken a break from cricket. So how will his name come?" Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"Ishan Kishan is not there today, but he will come. Shami's name is not there, although Shami had played in that time period. He played the Champions Trophy, picked up wickets, and lifted the trophy as well. His name not being there, I think that tells us how his future is," he added.

BCCI Men's Contracts

Grade A - Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade B - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer.

Grade C - Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi.

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