Axed, Iyer & Kishan back on BCCI contracts list
Mumbai: The BCCI on Monday retained megastars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the top bracket of its annual players contract list, less than 24 hours after they played sublime knocks to win IPL games for their respective franchises.
The out-of-favour duo of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan also returned to the fold in lower brackets in a 34-strong list of centrally-contracted players, which also includes pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja in the highest-paid A+ category. Iyer and keeper-batter Ishan Kishan were dropped from the list last year for allegedly ignoring domestic cricket.
Both Rohit and Kohli figure in A+ category but it remains to be seen if the Mumbai batter will be asked to lead the team in England in the upcoming five-Test series when his red ball form has been patchy.
The BCCI mandarins are however tight-lipped on the issue since head coach Gautam Gambhir’s view will also matter in taking a final decision.
The BCCI offers contracts in four categories: A+, A, B and C with annual retainership valuation of Rs 7 crore, Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. It is learnt that national selectors after discussion with head coach Gambhir and secretary Devajit Saikia had prepared the contract list at least two weeks back but held back the announcement.
Interestingly, it was announced hours after both veterans hit sparkling knocks -- especially skipper Rohit, who was going through a lean patch. While Kohli hit an unbeaten 73-run knock against Punjab Kings. Rohit came up with an unbeaten 76-run knock against Chennai Super Kings.
Iyer was included in B category while wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan made a comeback in category C.
Rishabh Pant, who was demoted to category B during the 2023-24 season as he didn’t play due to his recovery from a life-threatening accident, is back in A category in place of the retired Ravichandran Ashwin. Central contract is offered based on a player’s performance in the year gone by. The A+ category is meant for all-format automatic choices. The A category is for players, who are Test match certainties and also play the other two formats from time to time.
The category B is for players who at least play two formats regularly and C is for newcomers and one-format specialists.
Many would question how Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja were retained in the A+ grade when the troika has already announced retirement from the shortest
format?
