Despite Ranji Ton, Yuvraj Singh Dropped From BCCI Contract List
Veterans Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Dinesh Karthik were not offered new contracts by BCCI.
On a day that saw Yuvraj Singh smash his way to an impressive Ranji century, he was dropped from Board of Control for Cricket in India's list of contracted players for the year 2014-15. Veteran Gautam Gambhir who, like Yuvraj, was demoted from Grade B to C last year, was also not offered a contract.
Yuvraj, playing for Punjab on Monday, hit 136 against Maharashtra in Pune. His innings was a throwback to the time when he was at his ferocious best in international cricket. The knock included 25 fours and a six. While the innings helped Punjab take a 160-run lead on the second day of the match, the 33-year-old is unlikely to return to international fray anytime soon.
Recent times have been quite unkind to the flamboyant left-handed batsman. He was recently released by Royal Challengers Bangalore camp for the next edition of IPL despite being the most expensive buy at Rs 14 crores last year. He was also not picked in the 30-man World Cup probables list and has been confined to domestic cricket. Similarly, Gambhir too has been playing for Delhi and has not been given a chance to feature in the national team.
The other notable omission from the new list is Dinesh Karthik, who was also recently released by Delhi Daredevils camp for IPL 2015.
BCCI though offered contracts to as many as seven new players. These are KL Rahul, Akshar Patel, Pankaj Singh, Sanju Samson, Parvez Rasool, Kuldeep Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni and Karn Sharma.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only ones to secure Grade A contracts.
Full list of 32 contracted players:
Grade A (Rs 1 crore P.A each)
M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Grade B (Rs 50 lakh P.A each)
Pragyan Ojha, M. Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Md. Shami.
Grade C (Rs 25 lakh P.A each)
Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, R. Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parveez Rasool, Axar Patel, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and K L Rahul.