Shikhar Dhawan retained his central contract, while Ishant, Vihari and Rahane lost theirs.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2022-23 season. The BCCI discussed the new contracts during the Apex Council meeting in December, it was put on hold for the new selection committee to take charge.
The A+ grade retainer with INR 7 crores salary consists of players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja, who earned a well-deserved promotion to the top tier.
As previous reports had stated, new white-ball vice-captain Hardik Pandya was promoted from Grade B to Grace A which has an INR 5 crore retainer. Other players to get promotions in the central contracts were Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill who moved to Grade B from Grade C.
Out-of-favor Ishant Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, and Ajinkya Rahane lost their central contracts, while Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Washington Sundar, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ishan Kishan, and Shardul Thakur were some of the players in Grade C.
Shikhar Dhawan managed to hold onto his central contract but was demoted to Grade C.
Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Mohammed Siraj completed Grade B with Rahul being demoted from Grade A, while Akshar Patel, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, and Rishabh Pant were retained in Grade A.
Here is the complete list of Team India central contracts as released by BCCI:
Grade A+ (INR 7 crores): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A (INR 5 crores): Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, and Rishabh Pant
Grade B (INR 3 crores): Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj
Grade C (INR 1 crore): Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and KS Bharat.
(BCCI inputs)