BCCI central contracts: Hardik Pandya earns promotion to Grade A; Bhuvneshwar Kumar downgraded

All-rounder Hardik Pandya has earned a promotion to Grade A of the annual player contracts for Team India players, announced by the BCCI. The contracts have been announced for the period from October 2020 to September 2021. Shardul Thakur has been upgraded from Grade C to B. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been downgraded to Grade B, with Kuldeep Yadav demoted to Grade C. Yuzvendra Chahal has further dropped down to Grade C from B.

Shubman Gill, Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj have been provided a Grade C contract by the BCCI. Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey are however the major omissions from the list of players with a centralised contract.

There are no other changes barring this with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah continuing to enjoy a Grade A+ contract.

Grade A+ players will get Rs 7 crore, Grade A players will get Rs 5 crore, Grade B Rs 3 crore and Grade C Rs 1 crore.

ALERT: BCCI announces annual player retainership 2020-21 – #TeamIndia (Senior Men) for the period from October 2020 to September 2021.

Payment structure:
Grade A+ : INR 7 Cr
Grade A : INR 5 Cr
Grade B : INR 3 Cr
Grade C : INR 1 Crhttps://t.co/WgtmO7pIOv pic.twitter.com/ycnPcXPYJu

— BCCI (@BCCI) April 15, 2021

BCCI Contracts List:

A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

A: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya

B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal

C: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj

Shreyas Iyer’s Grade C Contract Very Surprising

It is certainly surprising to see a relatively proven campaigner like Shreyas Iyer handed a Grade C contract. Iyer is considered the future of Indian cricket, with the youngster handed the No 4 spot in the ODI team. He is also deemed as a probable candidate for the role of Team India skipper, in the future. Deeming this in mind, Iyer’s contract is certainly surprising.

One would further have expected a contract upgrade for Hanuma Vihari considering his heroics in Team India’s historic Test series triumph in Australia.