PremiumBCCI's central contracts list: Ravindra Jadeja promoted, KL Rahul demoted and NO place for Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Spin all-rounder Axar Patel was also promoted to the A category.
Last Updated: 11.25 AM, Mar 27, 2023
In the most recent BCCI contracts list, which was released on Sunday night, star India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has made a significant jump to the A+ category (Rs 7 crore), alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. The annual contract's validity spans the months of October 2022 and September 2023, according to a BCCI statement.
This news came after the all-rounder was a key component during India's victory over Australia earlier this month in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the four-match series, he picked up 22 wickets and contributed with the bat as well.
While Jadeja got an upgrade, spin all-rounder Axar Patel was also promoted to the A category, while wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat also landed a maiden central contract after being included in Group C.
Among all the promotions, top-order batsman KL Rahul was demoted to Grade B following a streak of subpar performances.
What surprised people was the exclusion of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma. The trio did not get a contract as BCCI handed retainership to 26 cricketers in four groups of A plus (Rs 7 crore), A (Rs 5 crore), B (Rs 3 crore) and C (Rs 1 crore).
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A: Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel
Grade B: Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill
Grade C: Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat