Currently the BCCI central contracts have four categories: A+, A, B and C.
Veteran batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are also expected to be demoted from the top A+ category, which is due to be scrapped.
"A possibility of change in the grading system in India men's central contracts will come for discussion in the next BCCI Apex Council meeting. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee is learnt to have made some proposals, and it will be discussed in the Apex Council meeting, for which a date will be announced in due course of time," sources told IANS.
It is also understood that Grade A+ would be phased away, although its final fate and any resulting monetary changes will not be enforced until the Apex Council authorizes them at its meeting.
Annual retainers for Indian men's cricketers are currently divided into four grades: A+, A, B, and C, as well as match fees across various formats. The retainer for Grade A+ players is Rs 7 crore, while cricketers in Grades A, B, and C receive Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore, and Rs 1 crore, respectively.
As per the 2024-25 list, Rohit, Virat, Ravindra Jadeja, and Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah are in A+, while Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Team India Men's ODI and Test skipper Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, and Rishabh Pant are in Grade A.
T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer are all in Grade B.
Grade C includes: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, 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.
(IANS/ANI inputs)