The BCCI has announced its annual player contracts for the Indian men’s cricket team 2024-25 season. Senior India stars Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have been retained in the top grade – A+ – despite the trio retiring from T20Is last year. Jasprit Bumrah is the fourth player in this category with the board handing contracts to as many as 34 players.
The A category features six players including KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant who has been given a promotion.
Both Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan are back in the contracts list after being snubbed last season with the board punishing the duo for missing domestic cricket.
Iyer has been included in grade B alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
On the other hand, Ishan is in grade C which features the highest number of players – 19.
Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy have been given maiden BCCI central contracts after making the cut in grade C. Spinner Chakaravarthy has been rewarded for playing a key role in India’s triumph at the Champions Trophy.
There were speculations over whether Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja will be demoted given they don’t represent India in all three formats anymore.
The salaries for the grade range from Rs 1 crore (Grade C) to Rs 7 crore (Grade A).
Those who have been included in Grade B will get Rs 5 crore each while players in Grade C will earn Rs 3 crore each.
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant
Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer
Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana
