NEW DELHI: Captain
Rohit Sharma
and star batsman
Virat Kohli
maintained their positions in the top tier of centrally-contracted players, while the sidelined pair of
Ishan Kishan
and
Shreyas Iyer
were omitted from the list for failing to adhere to the directive to participate in the Ranji Trophy, as announced by the BCCI during the unveiling of this year's annual contracts on Wednesday.
Players who got promoted
KL Rahul
,
Shubman Gill
and Mohammed Siraj have been elevated from Grade B to Grade A, making them the new entrants in the second tier of central contracts. Kuldeep Yadav has also been promoted from Grade C to B.
Players who got demoted
Rishabh Pant was in the A category last year but finds himself in B in the latest contracts having not played any cricket since his horrific accident in December 2022. Axar Patel has been demoted from Grade A to Grade B.
New entrants
On the back of extraordinary performances in the ongoing Test series against England, Yashasvi Jaiswal earned first BCCI central contract as he found himself in Grade B.
There are a host of new names in the list: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar in Grade C.
Pujara, Chahal, Dhawan dropped
The big names who have lost their contracts include Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who all have fallen out of favour with the selectors.
While announcing the central contracts for 2023-24, the BCCI once again advised all India cricketers to play domestic games when not on national duty.
"Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations," said the BCCI in a statement.
"The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team," the board added.
In a departure from the norms, the BCCI this time has not mentioned the remuneration of the players across the four categories.
Cricketers are normally paid Rs 7 crore per annum in A plus bracket, Rs 5 crore in A, Rs 3 crore in B and Rs one crore in C category, over and above their match fees.
Full BCCI central contracts list
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya
Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson,
Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar
Fast bowling contracts: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
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