As many as 34 players have been included by the BCCI in their newly announced annual player contract list for the 2024-25 season (October 1st, 2024 to September 30th, 2025).
While the usual suspects have found a place in the list, a few discarded players have made a comeback into the new list that has been laid out.
Several new faces like Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Harshit Rana, among others, have fetched a maiden contract with the BCCI as well.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Retained In Grade A+
In the BCCI contract list, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja have been kept in the A+ category. BCCI had reservations of placing Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja in the top category but they have finally resorted to the same as well.
The A category has names of multi-format players included. The likes of Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami have been placed in the A category.
Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan Return To BCCI's Contract List
Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have been recalled and included in the B and C categories respectively. Alongside Shreyas Iyer, Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been clubbed in category B together. Kishan and Iyer had their national contracts taken away previously on account of not playing domestic cricket. While Kishan's return from the South Africa tour in 2023 irked the BCCI, Shreyas Iyer's lack of participation in domestic games was the reason for his contract snub.
Also Read: Abhishek Nayar's Contract Cut Short By BCCI: Report
Mohammed Shami's Return Grabs Headlines Among Entry Of New Players
As many as 19 players are put in Category C. These are players who have played the majority of their international games in the T20I format. Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Rajat Patidar, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy have all been given their maiden BCCI contracts. The return of Mohammed Shami headlined the BCCI contract list along with the names of some worthy cricketers who have performed over a period of time. One of the major misses was Karun Nair, who recently scored 89 against the Mumbai Indians and made the headlines. Despite his recent good form, he was axed yet again from the BCCI central contract.
BCCI's Newly Laid Central Contract List
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya
Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarafraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana
Also Read: "Gambhir didn't oppose": Shocking revelations come to light amidst Abhishek Nayar's sacking
