The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Sunday released the annual contract list for Team India Senior Men. India's star all-rounder received a promotion in the list as he made it to the top A+ list with three other Indian stars. Notably, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul were handed a demotion in the newly released contracts.
"The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Sunday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2022-23 season," the Indian Board wrote in a statement. The list featured 26 players and they were divided into four grades- Grade A+, A, B and C.
Indian all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel made gains in the contract list. Jadeja has been added to the A+ grade and will earn INR 7 Crore along with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, all of who are in the top grade. Meanwhile Pandya and Axar moved to Grade A from C and B, respectively. Grade A retainers will pocket INR 5 Cr and there are five players in this bracket.
Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda and Arshdeep Singh were awarded the central contracts for the first time and they are in Grade C list of players, who will get INR 1 Cr. Notably, underfire KL Rahul and out of focus Shikhar Dhawan have received demotions. Rahul, who was earlier in Grade A, has been listed in Grade B. Not in the team for a few months, Dhawan has also fallen in Grade C.
List of players in Grade division:
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel
Grade B: Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill
Grade C: Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat
