DHARAMSHALA: India's head coach Rahul Dravid has urged that the BCCI's new Test incentive scheme should not be viewed as a mere sop to attract the best players and safeguard the format's future.
Instead, the staggering hike in rewards for Test regulars should be seen as an acknowledgment of the immense rigours and challenges of the red-ball format, he insisted.
"I really hope money is not going to be the incentive to play Test cricket," Dravid said. "It's just nice that the hard work - and how tough Test cricket can be - is being recognized. I wouldn't see it as an incentive to make people play Test cricket. I hope not. I hope it never really comes to that. It's probably a recognition that it is a tough format.
"It takes a special person to do what Ashwin has done, play 100 Tests. All of you recognize how challenging the format is and what it takes to be able to have consistency and survive the test of time in this format. We don't celebrate 100 T20Is the same way, do we? It's nice that the BCCI is recognizing it. It is a reward, not an incentive. I'm sure there will be a lot of people still wanting to play Test cricket."
The BCCI initiative comes in the wake of several leading cricketers either not being available or pulling out at several stages of the five-Test series against England. The substantial incentives follow a stern warning from the BCCI secretary to players who skipped the premier domestic red-ball tournament - the Ranji Trophy - in order to prepare for the upcoming IPL.
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'Iyer, Ishan are still in the mix, I don't decide contracts'A closely related talking point is Ishan Kishan, who pulled out of the two-Test series in South Africa citing mental fatigue and was told to return to domestic cricket and score runs. Instead, the wicketkeeper-batter has been seen in IPL preparatory mode and has been training with Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya in Baroda.
Kishan was subsequently removed from the BCCI's central contracts list, as was middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, who struggled in the early part of the Test series against England and subsequently pulled out citing back spasms. Iyer skipped the Ranji quarterfinals even though he was declared fit by the BCCI medical panel.
Dravid insisted he was not a part of the team drafting the central-contract list and the two players remained in India's scheme of things. "They're always in the mix," he said here on Saturday.
"Everyone playing domestic cricket is in the mix. I don't decide contracts, right? Contracts are decided by the selectors and the board. I don't even know what the criteria are. People ask me my opinion on the 15, and me and Rohit select the 11. That's how it works. I don't even know what the list of contracted players is."