The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the central contracts for the men’s cricket team with one major development - Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have both been left out of the expansive list comprising 30 players across four grades.
Ishan and Shreyas had been in the news of late with reports of the BCCI urging both to participate in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, to no avail.
In fact the release also states that the pair weren’t even considered for inclusion in the contracts’ list despite having played international cricket in the current contract cycle. ‘Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,’ writes Jay Shah in the release.
In the 2022-23 cycle, Iyer was categorised in Grade B, while Ishan Kishan was listed in Grade C.
In the press release to announce the contracts, Jay Shah signs off by writing, ‘the BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team’, seemingly alluding to the pair.
Ishan had been out of cricketing action after pulling out of India’s Tests against South Africa last year due to personal reasons. He was reported to be training in Baroda and missed the entire Ranji Trophy campaign for Jharkhand. This week, Ishan returned to action via the ongoing DY Patil T20 tournament in Navi Mumbai.
On the other hand, after being omitted from India’s Test squad for last three Tests against England, Shreyas missed Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda due to back issues, but has been named in the squad for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu starting on March 2 at BKC Ground.
The current central contracts cycle runs from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024 and has four grades with Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja occupying the top Grade A+ category. The board has however not mentioned the annual retainer amount for each grade.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja are in Grade A+, the highest category. Following them are R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya in Grade A. Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal are in Grade B.
The players in Grade C include Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, and Rajat Patidar.
This year, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, and Shubman Gill moved up to Grade A from Grade B where they were listed in the last cycle. Yashasvi Jaiswal finds himself in Grade B contract alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav (promoted from Grade C), Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant (both moved down from Grade A).
Besides Iyer and Kishan, other players who lost their central contracts are Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Apart from their grade-specific annual retainer, every player also earns a match fee for each Test, ODI and T20I they play in.
This time though the board has also announced that players will receive a contract fee on a pro rata basis, even if they’re not part of the central contracts.
‘Athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis,’ Jay Shah has said in the release citing the example of Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan. If the players play a third Test match in the ongoing contracts’ cycle, they will be ‘inducted into Grade C’.
BCCI's Men's Central Contracts
Grade A+ - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A - R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B - Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C - Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.
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