BCCI Committee of Administrators (CoA) has made some of the major decisions as they declared the yearly player retainership for the 2018-19 that is from October 2018 to September 2019. After missing out on a contract last year Rishabh Pant has been presented a Grade A contract. Murali Vijay, who had an A contract last year, is deprived of one for the forthcoming season. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been moved from an A+ agreement to contract A.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Pant is beginning to reap the rewards of a highly successful 2018 in international cricket, which saw him become the first Indian wicketkeeper to smash Test hundreds in England and Australia
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan have been ‘demoted’ from the A+ category, worth Rs 7 cr, to the A category
BCCI announces annual player retainership 2018-19
The contracts specify the advancement and growth that players have made over the previous year, which saw several positive results for India in the Test layout determined by the pace attack. Pant seams the trio of Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav who have been relocated up from the Grade B to Grade A this time around.
The payment structures are as under-
- Team India (Senior Men)
| Period | Grade A + | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C |
| Oct 2018 to Sept 2019 | INR 7 Cr | INR 5 Cr | INR 3 Cr | INR 1 Cr |
- Team India (Senior Women)
| Period | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C |
| Oct 2018 to Sept 2019 | INR 50 Lakhs | INR 30 Lakhs | INR 10 Lakhs |
Distribution of Annual Player Contracts Team India (Senior Men)
| I | ||
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| A + | 1 | Mr Virat Kohli |
| 2 | Mr Rohit Sharma | |
| 3 | Mr Jasprit Bumrah | |
| II. | ||
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| A | 1 | Mr Ravichandran Ashwin |
| 2 | Mr Ravindra Jadeja | |
| 3 | Mr Bhuvneshwar Kumar | |
| 4 | Mr Cheteshwar Pujara | |
| 5 | Mr Ajinkya Rahane | |
| 6 | Mr MS Dhoni | |
| 7 | Mr Shikhar Dhawan | |
| 8 | Mr Mohd. Shami | |
| 9 | Mr Ishant Sharma | |
| 10 | Mr Kuldeep Yadav | |
| 11 | Mr Rishabh Pant | |
| III. | ||
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| B | 1 | Mr KL Rahul |
| 2 | Mr Umesh Yadav | |
| 3 | Mr Yuzvendra Chahal | |
| 4 | Mr Hardik Pandya | |
| IV. | ||
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| C | 1 | Mr Kedar Jadhav |
| 2 | Mr Dinesh Karthik | |
| 3 | Mr Ambati Rayudu | |
| 4 | Mr Manish Pandey | |
| 5 | Mr Hanuma Vihari | |
| 6 | Mr Khaleel Ahmed | |
| 7 | Mr Wriddhiman Saha |
Distribution of Annual Player Contracts Team India (Senior Women)
I
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| A | 1 | Ms Mithali Raj |
| 2 | Ms Harmanpreet Kaur | |
| 3 | Ms Smriti Mandhana | |
| 4 | Ms Poonam Yadav |
II
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| B | 1 | Ms Ekta Bisht |
| 2 | Ms Jhulan Goswami | |
| 3 | Ms Shikha Pandey | |
| 4 | Ms Deepti Sharma | |
| 5 | Ms Jemimah Rodrigues |
III
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| C | 1 | Ms Radha Yadav |
| 2 | Ms D Hemalatha | |
| 3 | Ms Anuja Patil | |
| 4 | Ms Veda Krishnamurthy | |
| 5 | Ms Mansi Joshi | |
| 6 | Ms Punam Raut | |
| 7 | Ms Mona Meshram | |
| 8 | Ms Arundhati Reddy | |
| 9 | Ms Rajeshwari Gayakwad | |
| 10 | Ms Taniya Bhatia | |
| 11 | Ms Pooja Vastrakar |
Wriddhiman Saha, who missed a great part of the year because of the injury, realises himself drop down two sets to C while Dinesh Karthik too drops one category to C.
Ambati Rayudu, who has concreted a place in the ODI outline, gets a Grade C agreement after missing out in the earlier cycle. On the other hand, Khaleel Ahmed and Hanuma Vihari for the first time have received a Grade C contract even though Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Parthiv Patel and Jayant Yadav, who all had agreements in the preceding cycle, have been left out of the present one.
Grade A+ (Rs 7 Cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah
Grade A (Rs 5 Cr): MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav
Grade B (Rs 3 Cr): KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal
Grade C (INR 1 Cr): Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Hanuma Vihari, Ambati Rayudu, Khaleel Ahmed, Manish Pandey and Wriddhiman Saha
Talking about the Women’s Contracts, then….
Poonam Yadav has made herself moving to Grade A agreement however on the other hand Jhulan Goswami, who on late last year retired from T20Is before the Sri Lanka series, has been shifted to Grade B. Jemimah Rodrigues marks a move up to Grade B, whereas Veda Krishnamurthy and Rajeshwari Gaekwad have fallen from Grade B to Grade C.
On the other hand, All-rounders such as Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy and D Hemalatha for the first time have been presented a Grade C contract, while wicketkeepers such as Sushma Verma and Nuzhat Parveen have been dropped out from the list of centrally contracted players.
Grade A (Rs 50 Lakhs): Mithali Raj, Poonam Yadav, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana
Grade B (Rs 30 Lakhs): Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey
Grade C (Rs 10 Lakhs): Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, D Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Taniya Bhatia and Pooja Vastrakar
