New Delhi, February 9 Senior stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as expected, were downgraded to Group B of the latest annual central contract awarded by the BCCI, which also abolished the prevailing A+ category carrying a retainership fee of Rs 7 crore.
The BCCI awarded central contracts to 30 men and 21 women cricketers classified in Group A, B, and C on Monday.
The criteria for the new central contract is based on performance and the number of games played during the preceding season.
Two-format captain Shubman Gill, along with senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah and premier Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, were retained in Group A.
However, the BCCI did not mention the retainership fees for the three categories. With the A+ category being abolished, in previous seasons, Group A was valued at Rs 5 crore, Group B at Rs 3 crore annually, and Group C at Rs 1 crore.
As far as Kohli and Rohit are concerned, their retirement from Tests and T20Is effectively makes them one-format players, and therefore, they could not have been retained in the top category.
It is understood that A+ was a gradation introduced by the previous Committee of Administrators (COA) at the behest of former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It was intended for excellence across three formats, and only four individuals – Kohli, Rohit, Jadeja, and Bumrah – qualified for that category over the years.
However, with three of the four retiring from one or two formats, the BCCI did not want to simply retain Bumrah in A+ because the national selection committee is not convinced that T20 World Cup skipper Gill is a certainty across all formats after being dropped from the squad.
One interesting aspect, however, will be whether Bumrah receives the earlier retainership amount (Rs 7 crore) because he remains an automatic choice across all formats, and it is not his fault that the highest category has been abolished.
Mohammed Shami excluded from contracts
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During the last cycle, 34 players were awarded contracts, but this time the list has been pruned to 30. Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, seamer Mukesh Kumar, and Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan did not feature in the list.
The reason being that during the said cycle, they did not play a single international game across any format.
Shami's exclusion indicates that he is no longer part of the selectors' plans. While Kishan made a spectacular comeback in T20Is, it was only in the new cycle. In the case of Mukesh, he is no longer in the radar, and he did not play last season.
The same applies to Sarfaraz, who was part of the squad in Australia but did not play a single game. He had no matches to show for contract retention.
Out of the 30 names, only three have been placed in Group A, 11 in Group B, and 16 in Group C. The only surprise, although of minor proportions, is senior player Axar Patel, who regularly plays ODIs and T20Is and is part of the Test squad, being relegated to Group C with one-format players.
Jemimah upgraded to Group A
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While captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, and Smriti Mandhana retained their top positions in the women's list, India's World Cup star Jemimah Rodrigues was promoted from Group B to A for her stellar performance in the semi-final against Australia.
Sneh Rana has also been promoted and is now in Group B along with Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Renuka Singh Thakur.
There are 13 cricketers in Group C. Currently, the women's central contract retainership fees are Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh, and Rs 10 lakh respectively.