Iyer, Kishan lose contracts as BCCI announces annual retainership
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NEW DELHI: Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan on Wednesday lost contracts, after both the batter decided to miss Ranji Trophy matches, as BCCI announced annual retainership for 2023-24 season.
Kishan has been on an extended break “due to personal reasons” since coming back from the India tour of South Africa in December-January. He has been practicing with his Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya at Baroda, but has not turned out for Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy despite being told to play the tournament by the Indian Board.Iyer was absent from Mumbai’s final Ranji Trophy league match against Assam at BKC and also missed the Ranji quarter-final against Baroda.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah had warned centrally contracted and India A cricketers last week that non-participation in the ongoing Ranji Trophy will not be tolerated and chief selector Ajit Agarkar would be given a “free hand in this regard”.
And the board once again reiterated the same, recommending that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been placed in the highest category (Grade A+) of BCCI central contracts.
KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj have been promoted to the Grade A category in the central contracts list, signifying their significant contributions and performances.
On the other hand, Rishabh Pant, who missed a substantial part of the season due to recovery from a road accident, has been placed in Grade B.
The contracts for Team India (Senior Men) will run from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.
“Athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis,” BCCI said in a media statement.
“For instance, Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan, having played 2 Test matches so far, will be inducted into Grade C if they participate in the Dharamsala Test Match, i.e., the 5th Test of the ongoing series against England,” the statement added.
The selection committee also recommended fast bowling contracts for the following athletes – Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma are among the notable new faces included in the central contracts list for cricket. Both players have been added to the Grade C category, which comprises 15 players.
Noteworthy in this category are the strong comebacks of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube to the Indian T20I team. Jitesh Sharma, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the Indian T20I team, is also part of the Grade C list.
Incidentally, the BCCI this time has not mentioned the remuneration of the players across the four categories. Cricketers are normally paid Rs 7 crore per annum in A plus bracket, Rs 5 crore in A, Rs 3 crore in B and Rs one crore in C category, over and above their match fees.
LIST OF ANNUAL CONTRACTS:
Grade A+ (4 Athletes)
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A (6 Athletes)
R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (5 Athletes)
Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C (15 Athletes)
Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.