There’s some disagreement among the folks at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about whether to keep Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja in the top A-Plus Grade for central contracts, as reported by PTI. Some influential board members want to keep things the same for that top category, at least for now.
The BCCI has four pay grades for men’s central contracts. A-Plus players make Rs 7 crore, while those in Grade A get Rs 5 crore. Grades B and C earn Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively. Last year, only Rohit, Kohli, Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah had the highest contracts, which was seen as a reward for their commitment to all three formats.
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To be in the running for the next season’s BCCI contracts, a player must appear in three Tests, eight ODIs, or ten T20Is in a year. The national selection committee, along with head coach Gautam Gambhir and secretary Devajit Saikia, will prepare the contracts before they’re sent to the Apex Council for approval.
Rohit, Kohli, and Jadeja stepped away from T20Is last year after the T20 World Cup, and no younger players have stepped up to fill their shoes just yet. Right now, the only all-format player left is Bumrah.
Read Also: Virat Kohli Captaincy Record in All Format: T20I, ODI & Test
There will be some changes in the other categories. Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired from international cricket last year, will be dropped from the list. Meanwhile, Axar Patel, who is now vice-captain for the England T20I series, and promising opener Yashasvi Jaiswal might move up from Category B to A.
Shreyas Iyer, one of the season’s top players who played 11 ODIs, is likely to return to the central contract list after being controversially left off last year. Ishan Kishan, who had a strong start in IPL 2025, won’t make the list because he didn’t play any international matches in 2024.
Lastly, Akash Deep, Sarfaraz Khan, and Nitish Kumar Reddy are likely to receive their first central contracts.
