BOARD OF CONTROL FOR CRICKET IN INDIA (BCCI) is considering a significant overhaul of its central contract system, with the Grade A+ category likely to be discontinued under a proposed new structure.
The selection committee, led by chief selector Ajit Agarkar, has recommended scrapping the A+ bracket (currently valued at Rs 7 crore) and streamlining the system into three categories: A, B and C. Further details on revised retainers and final approval of the proposal are expected to emerge from the BCCI’s next apex council meeting.
Should the new model be cleared, senior players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are now active only in ODIs, are expected to be placed in Category B.
BCCI central contracts are annual retainers offered to Indian cricketers based on performance, format involvement and importance to the national setup. At present, players are grouped into four grades: A+ (Rs 7 crore), A (Rs 5 crore), B (Rs 3 crore) and C (Rs 1 crore), in addition to match fees.
The 2024–25 central contract list, announced in April 2025, featured Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah in Grade A+. Grade A included Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant.
T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, along with Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer, were placed in Grade B.
Grade C comprised Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana.
