BCCI has finalised the latest Central Contracts list for India players for the year 2022. Meanwhile, Cheteshwar Pujara and former Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who have been axed for the Sri Lanka Test series, were on Wednesday downgraded in the latest central contracts list of the BCCI that was ratified by the Board’s Apex Council.
The BCCI has four categories — A+ which has annual remuneration of Rs 7 crore while A, B and C categories are valued at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. Although , Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hardik Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha have been downgraded in the latest BCCI central contracts. However, the list is updated each year based on the performance of the cricketers.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah retained in the as A+ grade. However, Pujara, Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were in Grade A until last year, are now in Grade B. This comes after the trio were dropped for the Test series against Sri Lanka, which begins in Mohali on Friday. Category A has five players including Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami.
Hardik Pandya, who has not played any international cricket since the T20 World Cup in UAE last year, has been demoted to Group C, along with Shikhar Dhawan. While, Wriddhiman Saha, who has been dropped from the Test team, will still be richer by Rs 1 crore after being demoted from group B to C.