Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah Get Top Slot As BCCI Announces Annual Central Contracts

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the annual central contracts for the period stretching from October 2020 to September 2021. 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 BCCI, like last year, has divided players into four grades, with most of the Test specialists like Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja finding a place in Grade A with a retainership amount of Rs 5 crore.

The Grade B has five players, including fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur, who all will get 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. Kuldeep Yadav has been pushed from Grade A down to Grade C, while Mohammed Siraj and Shubman Gill have bagged their maiden central contracts, finding a place 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 altogether from the central contract list.

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.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma Jasprit Bumrah BCCI Cricket