Hardik Pandya earns promotion in BCCI contract list; Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal demoted

Hardik Pandya is an explosive Indian all-rounder who is getting better with each passing game. Yuzvendra Chahal's form has taken a slight hit in the shortest format, while chinaman Kuldeep Yadav has failed to deliver in any of the formats for the past couple of years.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced the new contracts for 2021-22. Based on the performance last season, it has seen some shuffling, with players being promoted and demoted, while there are also some debutants in the list.

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has earned a much-deserved promotion from Grade B to A. While he was the only promotion to Grade A, the only demotion from A was seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose prolonged injury miss dropped him to Grade B.

As for Grade B, pacer Shardul Thakur's unique wicket-taking abilities in pressure situations has been recognised and he has been promoted. Meanwhile, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who was influential in the shortest formats, has seen a slight dip in form and demoted from B to C.

In the meantime, Grade C has seen a lot of shuffling. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, going through a dreadful form across formats, has been demoted two grades, from A to C.

Also, there are three new entrants in Grade C, in the form of Shubman Gill, Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj. While Gill has become a regular opener for India, especially in Tests, Patel and Siraj are nailing it with their spin and pace, respectively, in the longest format.

The ones not to be retained are Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav. While Pandey was a Twenty20 specialist, his form with the bat has taken a dip. Jadhav, the veteran all-rounder, has failed with the bat, besides not being utilised as a regular bowler anymore.

As for the elite grade A+, there has been no change, with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah maintaining their spot. Also, the pay scale for the grades remains the same: A+ (₹7 crore), A (₹5 crore), B (₹3 crore) and C (₹1 crore).

Complete list of BCCI's contracted players for 2021-22:
Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Mayank Agarwal.
Grade C: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj.