Team India captain Rohit Sharma and superstar Virat Kohli are two of the biggest names not just in Indian cricket but also globally. The duo is placed among the top 4 Indians who earn the most money through BCCI annual contracts. According to the annual contract for the 2022-23 season (October 2022 to September 2023) for the senior men's team, there are four Indians in the A-plus category. Along with Rohit and Virat, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja are placed in A-plus.
Different categories of BCCI contracts
According to the BCCI retainership contracts, Grade A-plus is worth Rs 7 crore, Grade A is worth Rs 5 crore Grade B and C are worth Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.
A-plus: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
A: Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel.
B: Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill
C: Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat
(Note: The above information was provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) through a release on March 26, 2023)
BCCI to strip Iyer and Kishan of their contracts?
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah issued a stark warning to centrally-contracted Indian players, urging them not to prioritise the Indian Premier League (IPL) over domestic competitions like the Ranji Trophy. Despite this caution, prominent players such as Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, and Deepak Chahar have shown hesitance in participating in the current Ranji Trophy season, leading to potential "severe implications" for their careers.
In a major step taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Indian cricket board has reportedly decided to strip Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer of their central contracts. According to a recent report in the Times of India, Kishan and Iyer are set to be punished for constantly missing the Ranji Trophy matches.
"The selectors, led by Ajit Agarkar, has almost finalised the list of centrally contracted players for the 2023-24 season too, which the BCCI will announce soon. Kishan and Iyer are likely to be excluded from that list, as both haven't been playing domestic cricket despite the BCCI's diktat to do so," Time of Indian quoted a source as saying.
Shreyas Iyer makes himself available for Mumbai
Mumbai's star batter Shreyas Iyer has reportedly made himself available for the crucial Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Tamil Nadu. The narrative surrounding Shreyas Iyer has been filled with drama, especially after he was absent from Mumbai's final league game against Assam and the quarter-final bout against Baroda. Iyer attributed his absence to a back injury. However, this reason was put into question by a communication from Nitin Patel, the head of sports science and medicine at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), to the Mumbai Cricket Association's selectors, which suggested that Iyer was actually fit for selection.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
IND vs ENG: Will Jasprit Bumrah return to Indian squad for 5th Test against England? Big update surfaces of superstar's availability
IND vs ENG: Big blow for India as superstar player, who was slated to return for Dharamsala Test, flies overseas to receive treatment
