The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the player contracts for the 2023-24 season, leaving many fans surprised as some prominent players didn’t secure a spot.
A total of 35 players secured contracts spanning A+, A, B, C, and fast bowling grades. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and star batsman Virat Kohli retained their spots in the A+ category, joined by Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. A+ players earn INR 7 crore annually, while Grade A comes with a 5 crore payout, followed by INR 3 crore and INR 1 crore for categories B and C, respectively.
In the A category, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hardik Pandya, and Mohammed Shami were retained, and Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul were promoted from B to A. Notably, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were omitted from the list, with reports suggesting their exclusion resulted from reluctance to play domestic cricket despite board directives. Iyer, previously in the B category, and Kishan, from the C category in the 2022-23 contracts, were not considered in the recommendations round.
The list is as follows:
- Grade A+ (4 Athletes) – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
- Grade A (6 Athletes) – R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
- Grade B (5 Athletes) – Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
- Grade C (15 Athletes) – Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, 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.
The BCCI clarified that players meeting specific criteria, such as playing at least three Tests, eight ODIs, or ten T20Is within a given timeframe, would automatically be included in Grade C on a prorated basis. Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, who debuted in the IND vs ENG Test series, could move up to Grade C by participating in the ongoing series against England.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah emphasized the importance of players prioritizing domestic cricket during non-national team duty periods in a recent media release. In response to the controversy, Kishan participated in the DY Patil T20 tournament, and Iyer made himself available for Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy 2024 semi-final against Tamil Nadu, starting on March 2, 2024.
Unfortunately, their decision to make a move came a little late, as the board had already made up their minds to let them go. Alongside them, players like Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Umesh Yadav, and Yuzvendra Chahal, who have lost favor and seem to be out of consideration, also missed out on securing a contract.
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