After a gap of two years, the BCCI finally announced the Indian men's national team's central contracts with quite a few expected changes. Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been promoted to the highest A+ grade which also features Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
There are four grades in the BCCI's contract list for male players with 'A+' players on Rs 7 crore retainers, 'A' players earning Rs 5 crore, 'B' players making Rs 3 crore, and 'C' players taking home Rs 1 crore a season. The contract's cycle is from October 2022 to September 2023.
Apart from Jadeja, other all-rounders Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya were promoted to Grade A, from B and C respectively, while KL Rahul was dropped from A to B.
On the other hand, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav have moved up to Grade B from C, a BCCI media release said.
Pacer Shardul Thakur was dropped from Grade B to C, while Kuldeep Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and KS Bharat are all newly-contracted players in Grade C.
Veterans Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were previously in Grade B, have not been given contracts, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha and Deepak Chahar have all been dropped from the list.
BCCI's Annual Men's Contracts
A+ category: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
A category: Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel
B category: Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill
C category: Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat
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