BCCI: The Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma and senior-most batsman Virat Kohli have both retained their places in the top category of BCCI’s annual contracts, but Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were not so lucky enough to find a place for themselves this year in it for non-compliance of instructions to take part in the Ranji Trophy. Other than Rohit and Kohli, Bumrah and Jadeja have been placed in the top bracket (A+) of the BCCI contract. BCCI has given place to a total of 30 players in its four categories. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and fast bowler Mohammad Siraj were promoted.
Besides Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, BCCI has kept Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in its top grade (A+), with players in this grade typically receiving Rs 7 crore per year. Six cricketers are in the (A) grade, including Ashwin, Shami, Siraj, Rahul, Gill, and Pandya, each earning Rs 5 crore annually.
In the B grade, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar Patel are given Rs 3 crore annually. Fifteen players in Grade (C), including Singh, Verma, Gaikwad, Thakur, Dubey, Bishnoi, Sharma, Sundar, Kumar, Samson, Singh, Bharat, Krishna, Khan, and Patidar, receive Rs 1 crore each year.
Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were dropped from the central contract, with Kishan previously in Grade C and Iyer in Grade B. Additionally, Pujara, Yadav, Dhawan, Chahal, and Hooda were also released from the BCCI central contract.
