Recent reports indicate that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been moved from the A+ to the B category in the latest BCCI annual contracts. Their retirement from Test and T20I formats makes this change expected, as the top tier usually includes players who compete in at least two formats. According to Dainik Jagran, the BCCI has eliminated the A+ category, leaving three tiers: A, B, and C, with Category A being the top level.
Currently, only Shubman Gill (Test and ODI team captain), Jasprit Bumrah (star pacer), and Ravindra Jadeja (all-rounder) are listed in Category A. Suryakumar Yadav, who is the T20I team captain, is included in Category B, along with KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer.
Category C includes players such as Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
It is noteworthy that Ishan Kishan is absent from any of these categories, raising questions about his exclusion from the annual contract list, despite his recent selection for the T20 World Cup and strong performances against New Zealand.
BCCI Contract List Update for Men
- Grade A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
- Grade B: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer.
- Grade C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad.
BCCI Contract List Update for Women
- Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma
- Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana
- Grade C: Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Goud, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal Hasabnis