BCCI Annual Player Central Contract: BCCI has released the list of central contracts for the 2025-26 season. This time the board has given annual contracts to a total of 30 senior players. Another big change is that BCCI has completely removed the A+ category, due to which the top grade is now only Grade A. Due to which many players have been downgraded. At the same time, some players have been completely left out of this list.
Taking a big decision, BCCI has shifted Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from Grade A+ to Grade B. Similarly, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant have also come from Grade A to Grade B. This means that the earnings of these 6 players are going to be affected this time. Let us tell you, there is a difference of Rs 2-2 crore in the grades made for BCCI's central contract. If there is no change in the salary structure, then Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will suffer a loss of Rs 4 crore each. At the same time, the remaining 4 players will get Rs 2 crore less each.
Some players have been completely left out of this list. Ishan Kishan has been removed from the central contract, who is also currently a part of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup. But last season he was not a part of the team, which is considered to be a major reason for this. Mohammed Shami, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar also could not make it this time. These decisions have been taken considering the form, availability and role in the team. These four players have also not played any match for Team India for a long time.
The new central contract of the Indian women's cricket team has also been announced. A total of 21 women players have been given central contracts for the current season, last time this number was only 16. But Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil and Titas Sadhu have not been able to retain their central contracts. These players have been shown the door.
