BCCI Revealed Annual Contract List for 2023-2024

On Wednesday, February 28, BCCI announced the annual player retainership (Senior Men) for 2023-2024 (October 1st, 2023 to September 30th, 2024). The official list placed 4 Athletes in A+ Grade, 6 Athletes in A Grade, 5 Athletes in B Grade, and 15 Athletes in Grade C.

The Selection Committee has additionally recommended Fast Bowling contracts to five players. The BCCI also suggests all athletes prioritize domestic cricket when not representing the national team.

BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) List of Contracted Players:

Grade A+ (Rs 7 crore)

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade A (Rs 5 crore)

R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B (3 crore)

Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C (Rs 1 crore)

Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.

BCCI has Mentioned that “athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England”. This signifies that Dhruv Jurel & Sarfaraz Khan may get included in Grade C if they play in the 5th Test against England.

Besides this, the Selection Committee has also recommended Fast Bowling contracts for right-arm pacers Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Vidwath Kaverappa, and one left-arm pacer, Yash Dayal.

Shockingly, both Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were kept out of the BCCI central contract list, However, they can still be part of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises.

In their statement, BCCI said that “Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations.”

Players Who Are Getting an Annual Contract by BCCI for the First Time

Eleven new players are included in the annual contract list for Team India from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Those Players are Rajat Patidar, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Jitesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Prasidh Krishna, and Rinku Singh have been included in Grade C (1 crore) whereas Yashasvi Jaiswal features in Grade B (3 crore).

Players Dropped from the List:

Players who were part of the 2022–23 list but have been dropped from the current list include Umesh Yadav, Shreyas Iyer Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Deepak Hooda.

Players like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzevendra Chahal, Umesh Yadav, and Deepak Hooda were not included in the BCCI’s annual contracts list this time after having Grade C contracts in the last season.

Cheteshwar Pujara, who was not a part of the recent India vs. England Test series, is also excluded. He had Grade B in the previous season.