BCCI releases new contracts for Team India, Jadeja promoted to Grade A

The BCCI has announced the annual men player contracts for this season, enhancing the retainer and match fees amounts for Team India. Ravindra Jadeja, who climbed to the top of the Test rankings for bowlers in the recently released ICC rankings, has been promoted to the topmost grade, and will join the likes of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for an annual retainer amount of Rs. 2 crores. The annual retainers on all categories have been doubled.

The BCCI central contracts are divided into three categories (A, B and C), with an annual retainer amount of Rs. 2 crores, Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 50 lakh each. The match fees enhancements will be effective from the period starting October 1, 2016. An amount of Rs 15 lakhs per Test, Rs 6 lakhs per ODI and Rs 3 lakhs for T20 International will be paid to the players.

The Committee of Administrators met earlier on Wednesday and decided on the Annual Player Contracts for the period ending 30 September 2017, as following:

Grade A

Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay. Grade B Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh. Grade C Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant.

Suresh Raina, an integral part of the Indian Team in the limited overs format until last year, did not find a place in any of the annual contracts. The 30-year old recently made a comeback to the Indian Team in the T20I series against England. He was named the captain of the UP team in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but didn’t participate in the tournament. He was also overlooked for the Deodhar Trophy, not finding a spot in either of the India Blue or Red teams.

The move to give an A contract to Test stars like Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay highlights that the BCCI is giving importance to the longest format, providing topmost contracts to players who feature in just Tests.

Extra cover: Jadeja becomes No.1 bowler, Pujara pips Kohli in latest ICC Test rankings

Shardul Thakur, who hasn’t debuted for the Indian team yet, has been handed a Grade C contract. He is the only uncapped player in the list.

Note: If a player who is not in the list of contracted players plays a minimum of three matches Test/ODI/T20I, he will be added in Grade 'C'/Grade 'B', respectively.