NEW DELHI: Senior superstars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, as expected, have been downgraded to Group B in the latest annual central contracts announced by the BCCI, which also did away with the A+ category that carried a retainership of Rs 7 crore.

The BCCI on Monday awarded central contracts to 30 men and 21 women cricketers, classified into Groups A, B, and C.

The new cycle of central contracts is based on performance and the number of matches played during the preceding season.

Two-format skipper Shubman Gill, senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and premier Test all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja were retained in Group A.

However, the BCCI did not reveal the retainership amounts for the three categories. In earlier seasons, with the A+ category in place, Group A was valued at Rs 5 crore, Group B at Rs 3 crore, and Group C at Rs 1 crore annually.

Kohli and Rohit’s retirement from Tests and T20Is effectively makes them one-format players, and under the criteria, they could not have been retained in the top-most category.

The A+ grade was introduced by the erstwhile Committee of Administrators (COA) at the request of former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It recognized excellence across all three formats, and only four players qualified over the years — Kohli, Rohit, Jadeja, and Bumrah.

With three of the four now retired from one or more formats, the BCCI did not want just Bumrah to remain in A+, as the national selection committee is reportedly not convinced that Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill is a guaranteed all-format player, especially after being dropped from the T20 World Cup squad.

One interesting point will be whether Bumrah continues to receive the previous retainership of Rs 7 crore, given that he remains an automatic choice across all formats and it is not his fault that the highest category has been abolished.

Mohammed Shami and Others Dropped

During the last cycle, 34 players were awarded contracts, but this time the list has been reduced to 30. Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, seamer Mukesh Kumar, and Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan did not make the list.

The reason is that none of them played an international game across any format during the cycle.

Shami’s exclusion indicates that he is no longer in the selectors’ plans. While Kishan made a strong comeback in T20Is, it was only in the new cycle. Mukesh Kumar is no longer in the selectors’ radar, and Sarfaraz, who was part of the squad in Australia, did not play a single match and therefore had no performances to justify contract retention.

Among the 30 male cricketers, three were awarded Group A, 11 were in Group B, and 16 were placed in Group C. One minor surprise was senior player Axar Patel, a regular in ODIs, T20Is, and the Test squad, being relegated to Group C along with one-format players.

Jemimah Rodrigues Promoted in Women’s List

On the women’s side, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, and Smriti Mandhana retained their top positions, while India’s World Cup star Jemimah Rodrigues was promoted from Group B to A after her stellar semi-final performance against Australia.

Sneh Rana also earned a promotion and is now in Group B, alongside Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Renuka Singh Thakur.

There are 13 cricketers in Group C. Currently, the women’s central contract retainership fees stand at Rs 50 lakh, Rs 30 lakh, and Rs 10 lakh for Groups A, B, and C respectively.

(With PTI Inputs)