New Delhi: Former India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, veteran test batter Cheteshwar Pujara who previously were in grade A in 2021, have been pushed to Grade B of BCCI for the central contract list of season 2022-23, according to reports.
The BCCI annually awards contracts across four categories, A+ is the highest level which has annual remuneration of Rs 7 crore while A, B and C categories contracted players are paid at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively.
Both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara came under scrutiny for their poor performance in red-ball matches, which is the only format they play and this saw them being dropped from the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, all-rounder Hardik Pandya came under scrutiny ever since his injury and failed to put up a show in the recent past. Hardik has bowled very limited spells and has not put up a solid performance with the bat too.
Newly appointed skipper Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are the only three players to remain in the A + category like last year. While the vice-captain of the Indian team KL Rahul is in the A division.
Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Aswin, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul are the only five players in the A category list. This is followed by 7 players in the ‘B’ category, which Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammad Siraj and Ishant Sharma, who has been on and off the team in the recent times.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha went down from Grade B to Grade C. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav too has been moved down to Grade C. Whereas, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has also seen in good form has also moved down to Grade C with Shikhar Dhawan and Suryakumar Yadav respectively.
Check out the full contract list here:
‘A+’ contract – Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.
‘A’ contract – Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami.
‘B’ contract – Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma.
‘C’ contract – Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Yuzvendra Chahal, Wriddhiman Saha, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Agarwal.
