The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced its annual central contracts for the Indian men’s cricket team for the 2024-25 season. A total of 34 players have received contracts, with senior stars Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja being retained in the highest category – Grade A+. They are joined by Jasprit Bumrah in the same category.

Even though Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja retired from T20 internationals last year and don’t play all formats anymore, the BCCI has still kept them in the top grade.

The A category has six players: KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, and Rishabh Pant, who has been promoted this time.

Two players, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, were left out of the contracts last season as the board had reportedly punished them for skipping domestic matches. However, this year, both players have made a return to the list.

Iyer is now placed in Grade B, along with Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Ishan Kishan is included in Grade C, which has the largest number of players.

New faces in the list

Several new players have received their first-ever BCCI central contracts. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Abhishek Sharma, and spinner Varun Chakaravarthy have all been included in Grade C. Chakaravarthy played an important role in India’s recent Champions Trophy win and has been rewarded for his performance.

Salary structure

According to the BCCI, the players in:

  • Grade A+ will get ₹7 crore.
  • Grade A will get ₹5 crore.
  • Grade B will get ₹3 crore.
  • Grade C will get ₹1 crore.

This announcement also puts an end to the rumours about whether senior players like Rohit, Kohli, and Jadeja would be moved to lower grades because they no longer play in all three formats.

The BCCI’s full list has a mix of experienced players and young cricketers, showing that the board wants to build a strong team for the future.

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