"Threshold of pain is an individual thing and no trainer can judge that" - Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Shreyas Iyer's central contract saga
Legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar is a bit confused with the way star batter Shreyas Iyer was left out of the latest round of BCCI central contracts. Many believe the reason for the same was that Iyer didn't feature for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy 2023/24 quarterfinals.
Several reports claimed that while Iyer informed the team that he wasn't fit to play the quarterfinals, the NCA trainers had claimed that the right-hander was fully fit. While Gavaskar tried to understand the logic behind Iyer's snub, he felt that it would be highly unlikely for any trainer to specify the exact amount of pain that the player has.
In his column for the Mid Day, here's what Sunil Gavaskar opined about Shreyas Iyer's fitness and contract situation:
"He did miss the quarter-finals, but that was also the time he had informed the team management of his inability to play the third Test match due to some pain in his back if he batted for some length of time.
"However, the trainers at the NCA certified that his markers were clean and they found him fit to play. That seemed to have gone against Iyer. Threshold of pain is an individual thing and no trainer can judge that."
Iyer has been in and out of the Indian team because of the recurring issues he has had with his back. He had also reportedly complained to the team management about pain in his groin area as he played more deliveries.
Shreyas Iyer hadn't refused to play in the Ranji Trophy: Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar also pointed out that while Ishan Kishan didn't feature in the Ranji Trophy games for Jharkhand, Shreyas Iyer still played for Mumbai just before the Test series against England started. It seemed that Gavaskar was a bit unhappy with the narrative that Iyer had refused to feature in Ranji Trophy.
On this, he wrote:
"Nobody still knows why Kishan has not turned up for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy, while at the time of writing this column, Iyer was in the Mumbai team to play the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy. Iyer had also played in the Ranji Trophy game as asked by the Indian team management just before this Test series started, so it’s not as if he has refused to play the Ranji Trophy at all."
Shreyas Iyer didn't have a great outing in the first innings of the Ranji Trophy 2023/24 semifinal against Tamil Nadu as he was dismissed for just three off eight deliveries.