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Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli named in Grade A+ of annual central contracts (File Photo: X)
In a recent piece of news, the Indian Cricket Board has announced the annual central contracts of the players for India’s Senior Men’s Team for the 2023-24 season, from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024. The board has kept only four players in the Grade A+ of the central contracts, including the likes of skipper Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli, star pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
6 players have been named in the Grade A annual contract of the Indian Cricket Board; it includes the veteran off-spin all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin, the star pacers, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, senior batter KL Raahul, alongside Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Indian Cricket Board terminates central contract of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan
While there are 5 cricketers in Grade B of the annual central contracts announced by the board, having the names of World No. T20I batter Surya Kumar Yadav, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, star spinner Kuldeep Yadav, all-rounder Axar Patel, and young batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Apart from A+, A and B, there are 15 cricketers in Group C of the annual central contracts. Meanwhile, the Indian Cricket Board has also come up with a straightforward and very clear message for the cricketers who have missed domestic cricket in the last couple of weeks. The board also cleared the conditions for the induction of some new names in the Grade C.
“Additionally, athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis. For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England,” said the Indian Cricket Board in a statement through a media release.
“Please note that Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of recommendations,” the statement read further.