The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the roster of central contracts for 2023-24 on Wednesday (February 28), wherein four players were designated to the Grade A+ category.

It’s worth mentioning that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were omitted from the yearly contracts catalog. Allegedly, both batsmen had been neglecting the directives issued by the BCCI to participate in the Ranji Trophy, prompting the board to take disciplinary action against them.

“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” a statement from BCCI read over the duo’s absence from the central contracts.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja have been elevated to the top category (Grade A+) of BCCI central contracts.

KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj have earned promotions to the Grade A category in the central contracts roster, acknowledging their significant contributions and performances.

Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, who was sidelined for a substantial portion of the season due to recovery from a car accident, has been assigned to Grade B.

The contracts for Team India (Senior Men) are slated to be effective from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.

“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,” BCCI said in a media statement.

“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,” the statement added.

The selection committee has put forth recommendations for fast bowling contracts for the following athletes: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal, and Vidwath Kaverappa.

Noteworthy names like Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma have been included in the central contracts list for cricket. Both players have been assigned to the Grade C category, which encompasses a total of 15 cricketers.

Jitesh Sharma, who stepped in for Ishan Kishan in the Indian T20I team, joins the Grade C list alongside Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube.

LIST OF ANNUAL CONTRACTS:

Grade A+ (4 Athletes) Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade A (6 Athletes) R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B (5 Athletes) Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Grade C (15 Athletes) 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.

Additionally, 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 more details, click the link below 👇👇https://t.co/IzRjzUUdel #TeamIndia

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 28, 2024