BCCI announces annual player contracts ahead of IPL 2023; KL Rahul demoted to Grade B, Jadeja promoted to A+

The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Sunday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2022-23 season. 

Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was rewarded with the elite grade A plus retainership, while Axar Patel got promoted to the A category. Jadeja, 34, who was joint Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, was one of the four players to be placed in the A plus category, along with skipper Rohit Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli and injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah.

Top-order batter KL Rahul got demoted to Grade B after a string of poor performances. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma didn't 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). It seems curtains for the veteran trio, who have been dropped from the contract list, signalling that they are no longer in the reckoning for the national team.

Spin all-rounder Axar had plenty to be happy about as he was promoted to the A category, while wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat also landed a maiden central contract after being included in Group C. Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is recovering after undergoing treatment for his injuries following a horror crash in December last year, remains in A category, which also includes Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.

The elite A plus category has players who are sure-shot candidates for all three formats, while 'A' comprises cricketers who are certainties for Tests and one-dayers. Players considered for limited-over cricket are in Group B, while C group players are generally considered for one of the three formats regularly. 

The payment structures till September 2023, announced by BCCI Honorary Secretary Jay Shah, are as under:

Grade A+: Rs 7 crore

Grade A: Rs 5 crore

Grade B: Rs 3 crore

Grade C: Rs 1 crore

Four cricketers have been named in the Grade A+ category. They include:

Rohit Sharma

Virat Kohli

Jasprit Bumrah

Ravindra Jadeja

Five cricketers have been named in the Grade A category. They include:

Hardik Pandya

R Ashwin

Mohd. Shami

Rishabh Pant

Axar Patel

Six cricketers have been named in the Grade B category. They include:

Cheteshwar Pujara

KL Rahul

Shreyas Iyer

Mohd. Siraj

Suryakumar Yadav

Shubman Gill

Eleven cricketers have been named in the Grade C category. They include:

Umesh Yadav

Shikhar Dhawan

Shardul Thakur

Ishan Kishan

Deepak Hooda

Yuzvendra Chahal

Kuldeep Yadav

Washington Sundar

Sanju Samson

Arshdeep Singh

KS Bharat