BCCI latest contract list: The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been downgraded in the latest BCCI central contracts list.
Advertisement
A consistent run of poor form followed by selection snub from team India squad for the imminent Test series versus Sri Lanka, senior batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been handed downgraded central contracts in BCCI’s latest list that was agreed upon by the Board’s Apex Council on Wednesday.
It is worth of a mention that the BCCI’s contract list is divided into four categories: category ‘A+’ with an annual remuneration of INR 7 crore, category ‘A’ with an annual remuneration of INR 5 crore, category ‘B’ with INR 3 crore and category ‘C’ with INR 1 crore.
A total of 27 Indian players, as against 28 last time around, have been placed under the aforementioned categories in the ratified list.
The likes of present skipper Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah retain their category ‘A+’ central contract value at INR 7 Crore. They are the only three players to make it to the top category.
‘A’ category, which saw a total of 10 players last year, has been shrunk to mere 5, with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami managing to retain their respective contracts.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Hardik Pandya downgraded
Veteran batters Rahane and Pujara and pacer Ishant Sharma, who were slotted in ‘Grade A’ previously, have been demoted to ‘Grade B’ after a slump in form.
The biggest drop in the contract list has been handed to the injury-marred all-rounder Hardik Pandya who has been dropped from ‘Grade A’ to ‘Grade C’ having not played an international game since the ICC T20 World Cup last year.
Shikhar Dhawan, who only finds himself in the team’s bilateral ODI squads, has also been downgraded from ‘Grade A’ to ‘Grade C’.
Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and Delhi pacer Navdeep Saini have been left out of the central contract list altogether.
BCCI latest contract list
‘A+’ contract – Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.
‘A’ contract – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami.
‘B’ contract – Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma.
‘C’ contract – Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Yuzvendra Chahal, Wriddhiman Saha, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Agarwal.
BCCI Women’s Central Contracts
In the women’s Central contracts, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav have been joined by the likes of Deepti Sharma, and left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the ‘Grade A’ category of INR 50 Lakh.
The veteran players Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswanmi have retained their ‘Grade B’ slot of INR 30 Lakh, while batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who was handed a selection snub for India’s imminent World Cup campaign, has been dropped to the ‘Grade C’ category of INR 10 Lakh.
