At 33 years of age, the southpaw’s red-ball career is seemingly over. (AP/File)The BCCI has trimmed the A+ category, retaining just three players in the top bracket, as the Committee of Administrators (CoA) announced the annual player contracts for the 2018-19 season on Thursday. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are the three A+ category players, with Rs 7 crore each per annum. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been relegated to A category, which is Rs 5 crore each annually.
Dhawan hasn’t featured in the Test side since September last year. In four Tests in England last year, the opener had scored only 162 runs at an average of 20.25. At 33 years of age, the southpaw’s red-ball career is seemingly over. Dhawan, however, remains an integral of the Indian team’s white ball set-up. And hence, he has been given the A category.
Rishabh Pant is arguably India’s most improved cricketer of late. After making his Test debut in August last year, the wicketkeeper-batsman has scored 696 runs in nine Tests at an average of 49-plus. Both his Tests hundreds came overseas, 114 at the Oval and 159 not out in Sydney. Pant is considered to be a potential dark horse, with regards to the India’s World Cup squad.
Why Cheteshwar Pujara didn’t get a contract upgrade is anybody’s guess. Just a couple of months ago, India achieved an historic feat, winning their first-ever Test series in Australia. Pujara was the chief architect of the triumph – 521 runs in four Tests and three centuries, at an average of 74.42.
Both Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul have been retained in the B category, with Rs 3 core each per year. The CoA has referred the investigation into Rahul and Pandya’s sexist remarks to the newly-appointed ombudsman DK Jain, who will decide if the cricketers will get a punishment more severe than the already served provisional suspensions. Maybe, this is a reason why Pandya didn’t get a promotion despite being a regular in all three formats, when he is fit.
A total of 25 players have been given central contracts. Vijay Shankar, despite being part of the Indian ODI and T20I squads didn’t feature in the list. In women’s cricket, 20 players have been handed central contracts.
Grade A Plus (Rs 7 cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Grade A (Rs 5 cr): Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohd. Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant
Grade B (Rs 3 cr): KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya,
Grade C (Rs 1 cr): Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, H Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha.
