For Indian batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane it has been a real tough time. In terms of runs, the two batsmen are having a pretty dismal run and now if reports are to be believed then they are not going to find a place in the Group A of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) central contracts. It is understood that the two batsmen are likely to face a demotion in their contracts on the basis of their poor performance in recent times.
Both Pujara and Rahane have been under the scanner for a long period of time and as a result of that both of them can not only face a demotion in the contract list but their place in the team face a big question mark.
More changes
Indian Test team are scheduled to face Sri Lanka next month in a two-match Test series slated to be played in India. In a situation like this if Pujara and Rahane are both dropped from the Test team then Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari can expect to be in the squad.
After Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain of the Indian Test team, Rohit Sharma will be the new Test captain of the Test side.
Apart from the demotions, all-rounder Shardul Thakur is reported to be securing a promotion in the contract list. The Maharashtra-born cricketer is currently slotted in the Grade B contract list but his good show in recent times can secure a promotion in the contract list and he can expect to find his name in Grade A once the Contract Lists get updated.
Currently, apart from Kohli, Rohit and pacer Jasprit Bumrah find themselves in Grade A+ in the contract list.
2021 Contract List
Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya
Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal
Grade C: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj
