The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual retainership contracts across 4 categories for Indian players on Monday.

India’s Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma and batting talisman Virat Kohli retained their place in the A+ bracket, while the previously axed duo of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan returned to the fold in the list, consisting of a total of 34 players across categories. The A grade, which commands an annual retainership fee of Rs 7 crore, also features Ravindra Jadeja and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, much like the last few years.

India’s Champions Trophy hero Iyer has been a notable comeback in the list, inducted in group B, which comes with an annual remuneration of Rs 3 crore.

Iyer was dropped last season for allegedly ignoring domestic cricket for the  IPL. Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan. dropped for the same reason, also made a comeback in category C, which is worth Rs 1 crore annually.

Players Promoted or Handed First-Time Contract:

1. Rishabh Pant (Grade B to Grade A)
2. Shreyas Iyer (None to Grade B, but was part of BCCI contracts before the 2023-24 season)
3. Ishan Kishan (None to Grade C, but was part of BCCI contracts before the 2023-24 season)
4. Sarfaraz khan (none to grade c)
5. Nitish Kumar Reddy (None to Grade C)
6. Abhishek Sharma (None to Grade C)
7. Akash Deep (None to Grade C)
8. Varun Chakaravarthy (None to Grade C)
9. Harshit Rana (None to Grade C)

Players Demoted or Axed:

1. Shardul Thakur (From Grade C to None)
2. Jitesh Sharma (From Grade C to None)
3. KS Bharat (From Grade C to None)
4. Avesh Khan (From Grade C to None)

Rishabh Pant, who was demoted to group B during the 2023-24 season as he didn’t due to his recovery from a life-threatening accident, is back in the A category in place of the retired Ravichandran Ashwin.

Category A comes with a retainer of Rs 5 crore annually.

Category C features the maximum number of players, 19 in all, with four new entrants in Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Abhishek Sharma, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

With PTI Inputs