Overview:
Kohli and Rohit have also been kept in Group B. Despite the two being in good form, there is no confirmation that the two would compete in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finalised its central contracts for the 2025-26 season, giving place to 30 players. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been demoted after taking retirement from T20Is and Test cricket, and the two veterans are placed in Category B. Kohli and Rohit were in the A+ category previously.
The Indian Cricket Board has scrapped the top category from the central contracts. Earlier, Grade A+ contract carried an amount of INR 7 crore per year, while Grade A players were given INR 5 crore. Grade B and Grade C got INR 3 crore and INR 1 crore, respectively.
According to a report in Dainik Jagran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah are in Group A. Gill is India’s captain in ODIs and Test cricket, while Jadeja and Bumrah are key players.
India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal are in Group B.
Kohli and Rohit have also been kept in Group B. Despite the two being in good form, there is no confirmation that the two would compete in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Sai Sudharsan, Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, and Rinku Singh are in Category C.
Surprisingly, there is no place for Ishan Kishan, who is a part of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad.
Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar and Mohammed Shami have been left out.
Annual contracts for the men cricketers
Grade A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade B: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer.
Grade C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Annual contracts for the women cricketers
Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma.
Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana.
Grade C: Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaur, Uma Chhetri, Arundhati Reddy, Sri Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvi Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal.