Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel awarded BCCI central contracts: Report
As per Times of India, BCCI has awarded Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel with Group C central contracts, which have an annual retainership fee of Rs 1 crore. The development comes after the two youngsters fulfilled the criteria for playing three Tests in a season. Both Sarfaraz and Jurel made their international debuts during India's recent 4-1 Test series win over England.
Promotion for Sarfaraz and Jurel
BCCI announced its latest central contract list last month. As per the new promotion criteria, players with a minimum of three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically reach Grade C. As both Sarfaraz and Jurel played three Tests against England, their contracts were reportedly ratified during the BCCI Apex Council meeting which was held on Monday.
How did the duo perform in England Test series?
Sarfaraz, who has scored a bulk of runs in domestic cricket, scored three half-centuries across five innings in the series to finish with 200 runs at 50. He slammed twin fifties on debut. Meanwhile, Jurel received the Player-of-the-Match award for his 90 and 39* in the Ranchi Test. The wicketkeeper-batter scored a crucial 46 on debut. His series tally read 190 runs at 63.33.
The new promotion criteria
As per the latest criteria, the contracted players will have to play domestic cricket when not representing India. Notably, BCCI has terminated the annual contracts of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan. The duo came under the scanner for missing Ranji Trophy matches. BCCI stated Iyer and Kishan "were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations."
Changes in Ranji Trophy scheduling
In another development, BCCI is likely to alter the Ranji Trophy calendar for the next season. They will not schedule any matches in the northern part of India during the months of December and January as fog and bad light often play spoilsport in these regions. For the past few seasons, the tournament has been running from January to the second week of March.