Star India allrounder Ravindra Jadeja has made a big jump to the top category in the latest BCCI contracts list announced on Sunday night. While earlier there were three players in the top category (A+, Rs 7 crore), now there are four. India captain Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli and star pacer Jasprit Bumrah have retained their place in the top category announced by the Indian cricket board. Jadeja was a vital cog in India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy win over Australia earlier this month. He picked 22 wickets during the four-match series, and also played a handy role with the bat. According to a BCCI statement, the annual contract is dated from October 2022 to September 2023.
NEWS – BCCI announces annual player retainership 2022-23 – Team India (Senior Men).
More details here – https://t.co/kjK4KxoDdK #TeamIndia
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 26, 2023
Top-order batter KL Rahul got demoted to Grade B after a string of poor performances.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma didn’t get a contract as BCCI handed retainership to 26 cricketers in four groups of A plus (Rs 7 crore), A (Rs 5 crore), B (Rs 3 crore) and C (Rs 1 crore).
It seems curtains for the veteran trio, who have been dropped from the contract list, signalling that they are no longer in the reckoning for the national team.
Spin all-rounder Axar had plenty to be happy about as he was promoted to A category, while wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat also landed a maiden central contract after being included in Group C.
Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is recovering after undergoing treatment for his injuries following a horror crash in December last year, remains in A category, which also includes Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.
There were six cricketers in Group B, including Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar yadav and Shubman Gill.
A total of 11 players, including Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, have been placed in the C category. They will be paid Rs 1 crore by the board.
Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, KS Bharat and pacer Arshdeep Singh are the newest entrants in the latest central contracts announced by the BCCI. They have all been placed in the C category.
(With PTI Inputs)
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