MUMBAI: The top tier of BCCI’s annual central contracts remained unchanged, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in the A+ category. But Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not included in the list of 30 contracted players for the 2023-24 season – the list was expanded from last year’s 26. Iyer, who was one of the key players in India’s run to the World Cup finals last November, lost his Grade B contract despite meeting the minimum criteria set by the board in terms of matches played. Iyer has played four Tests, 12 ODIs and two T20Is since last October, when the latest contract period began (runs from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024).
Two of those Tests were the first two in the ongoing series against England, where he struggled for form and was left out for the rest of the series. Not long after, Iyer informed the Mumbai Cricket Association that he was suffering from back spasms and would not be available for the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Baroda. However, Iyer has since made himself available and is part of Mumbai’s squad for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu on March 2. Kishan was on a Grade C contract last year. He played two Tests, 19 ODIs and ten T20Is in the last contract period and has played only two ODIs and three T20Is in the ongoing cycle, though he has been part of various other Indian teams. He sought a personal break in the South Africa tour in December, which the BCCI gave him.
However, he has not featured in any competitive cricket organized by the board since then. He grabbed headlines on Tuesday when he turned up to play in the DY Patil T20 Cup, a privately organized tournament in Mumbai. A BCCI report on Wednesday said Iyer and Kishan “were not considered for one-year contracts in this round of recommendations”. reiterating his recent position that “all sportsmen prefer to participate in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team”. Rahul, Hardik in the second row; Suryakumar, Class B pants The second tier of central contracts (grade A) has R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya. Grade B has a new entrant in 22-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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It is his first BCCI central contract, recognizing his work in Test cricket since his debut in July 2023. He has hit back-to-back double centuries in the ongoing series against England. Along with Jaiswal, the other B grade members are Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. The final level is manned by many T20 specialists including Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar. Siraj, Rahul and Gill are the new names in A-grade, all promoted from B-grade. Pant, who has not played for over a year since a horrific car accident in December 2022, and Axar have moved up to Grade B from A-grade.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda and Yuzvendra Chahal have been left out altogether, while a number of new names are taking over: Jaiswal in B grade, Rinku, Tilak, Gaikwad, Dube, Bishnoi, Jitesh, Mukesh, Prasidh, Avesh and Patidar in grade C. BCCI did not mention the amounts for the four contract categories, but ESPNcricinfo understands that they are likely to increase from the previous year when A+ was INR 7 crore, A was INR 5 crore, B was INR 3 crore and C was INR 1 crore. The BCCI added that as in previous years, all cricketers who play a minimum of three Tests or eight ODIs or ten T20Is in a specified period will be “automatically graded C on a pro rata basis”. “For example, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, who have played two Test matches so far, will be graded C if they take part in the Dharamsala Test match [against England],” they explained in their statement.
