BCCI contracts: Virat, Rohit, Bumrah remain in top bracket; Hardik Pandya promoted to grade A

NEW DELHI: The star trio of India captain Virat Kohli, his white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah retained their top bracket BCCI contracts, worth Rs 7 crore each, even as some fast-rising youngsters were also rewarded by the Board on Thursday.

A total of 28 cricketers were awarded central contracts in four categories.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya is one of the notable promotions to Grade A, which is worth Rs 5 crore, while rookies Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj have got their maiden central contracts worth Rs 1 crore in Grade C.

Among the demotions, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dropped to Grade B, which is worth Rs 3 crore, while Kedar Jadhav has been dropped for good.

The list of BCCI's annual contracts: GRADE A+ (Rs 7 crore): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

GRADE A (Rs 5 crore): R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya.

GRADE B (Rs 3 crore): Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal.

GRADE C (Rs 1 crore): Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari , Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj.