The Board of Control for Cricket in India released this year’s ‘Annual Player Contracts’ and in a big boost to the 32 cricketers retained, all salaries have been doubled.
Grade A players will now receive Rs 2 crore per year, Grade B will be paid Rs 1 crore and Grade C players will get Rs 50 lakh, notwithstanding how many matches they play for India.
Besides the above contracted sum, each cricketer will also receive revised renumeration for every India outing.
Effective from 1 October 2016, member’s of the men’s team will get Rs 15 lakh per match, an upgrade from the earlier Rs 7.50 lakh fee. For ODIs they will be paid Rs 6 lakh and for every T20I appearance they get Rs 3 lakh.
Big Gainers
There were also upgrades in grade categories for players with Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara getting rewarded with a spot in Grade A along with Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane (Read: Who Needs Saving – Test Cricket or The Test Cricketer?) Also making an entry into the top rung are Ravindra Jadeja and Murali Vijay.
T20 regular Yuvraj Singh also makes a comeback on the roster after being left out last season. He’s listed in Grade B along with Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha and Jasprit Bumrah.
Veterans Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel also made a comeback to the list of contracted players.
Grade C sees some new faces with Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Shardul Thakur and Rishabh Pant all being rewarded for their performances.
Big Losers
The one big name to be left out is Suresh Raina. A Grade B player till last season, Raina finds no place in the retainer list. Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who made a comeback into Grade C last season, has also been left out.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan was demoted to Grade C after being out of the national side for most part of the ongoing season.
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Following is the full list of contracted players:
Grade A: Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay.
Grade B: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh.
Grade C: Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant.
The board also handed a cheque of Rs 15 lakh to Sandhya Rajesh Sawant, wife of former Under-19 team trainer Rajesh Sawant, who passed away during the U-19 team's series against England, earlier this year.
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