The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the annual central contracts as per which India skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah have been retained in the A+ category and will receive Rs 7 crore annually.
The period of the contracts will stretch from October 2020 to September 2021 and like last year, the Indian board has divided the players into four grades – A+, A, B and C.
As per the new contratcs, India Test specialists like Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja have found a place in Grade A with a retainership amount of Rs 5 crore.
The Grade B includes five players, including fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, who all will receive a sum of Rs 3 crore.
Hardik Pandya, who was in Grade B last season, has been promoted to Grade A, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who recently won the ICC player of the month for March, has been dropped to Group B.
On the other hand, spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been pushed to Grade C from Grade A, while pacer Mohammed Siraj and batter Shubman Gill have received their maiden central contracts.
Both Gill and Siraj have been placed in Grade C worth Rs 1 crore.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has been placed in the fourth and final category, while the likes of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav have dropped from central contract list.
BCCI’s Central Contract List are as follows:
Grade A + (Rs 7 crore): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A (Rs 5 crore): Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (Rs 3 crore): Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, and Mayank Agarwal.
Grade C (Rs 1 crore) Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubhman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohammed Siraj.