The BCCI is likely to announce its central contract list in the next few days. According to reports, the BCCI is set to convene a meeting on Saturday with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and India head coach Gautam Gambhir in attendance. There will be a lot of intrigue surrounding big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. The veteran trio now play only two formats after having retired from T20s following the 2024 T20 World Cup win.
If a TOI report is to be believed India’s ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja will continue to be place in the A+ category of central contracts – the highest level among central contracts. The trio, along with Jasprit Bumrah, will be retained in the category, according to sources, said the report.
The report further claimed Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped from the BCCI central contracts for the 2023-24 season for not playing domestic cricket, is set to be back. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan was also dropped along with Iyer but there remains doubt over his inclusion.
“Shreyas is set to regain his contract, and it will be in a top category. However, discussions are still ongoing on whether in Ishan’s case,” the report quoted a source as saying.
Iyer was India’s top-scorer in the Champions Trophy 2025 and is currently leading Punjab Kings in the IPL.
Meanwhile, left-arm spin allrounder Axar Patel, who is the vice-captain of India’s T20 side, may be promoted from Grade B to Grade A, said the report.
Meanwhile, ‘mystery spinner” Varun Chakravarthy, allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhishek Sharma are set to bag BCCI central contracts, according to the report.
A+ category has a retainership fee of Rs 7 crore, followed by A where a player gets Rs 5 crore while cricketers in Grade B and C are paid Rs 3 crore and 1 crore respectively.
For any player to enter the central contract list, he needs to play either three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is during a particular calendar year to be considered for the next season.
It will also be interesting to see if young Yashasvi Jaiswal gets an elevation from his Grade B contract considering his promise across formats. In the new list, Bengal speedster Akash Deep, who has played seven Tests and Sarfaraz Khan, who has played three during the calendar year, should be inducted in Group C.
With PTI inputs
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