With the skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja being allotted the higher grade of A+ category, the BCCI released the list of central contracts for 2023-24 today. Primarily, both Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were not included on the central contracts list.
The BCCI stated about their absence on the list, saying, “Please note that Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer were not considered for the annual contracts in this round of counsel.” In contrast, the central contract list consists of Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma, even though they are the new players. They were included to the Grade C category that has 15 players, viz., Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube, who showcased their talents respectively. The ‘C’ list also has Jitesh Sharma, who replaced Ishan Kishan in the T20I Indian team.
Whereas, Grade B list includes Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Among them, Rishabh Pant is expected to make a comeback in the IPL 2024. As Kuldeep Yadav attempted outstanding performances in the current Test series against England, Axar Patel has also represented the side in innumerable formats over the previous months, along with him. On a pro-rata basis, players meeting specific criteria, like playing a small number of matches (3 Tests or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is) within the designated period (October 1 2023 to September 30, 2024), were absolutely added in Grade C contracts.
The following is the complete list of Central Contracts for 2023/24
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, Shubhman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (5 Athletes)
Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C (15 Athletes)
Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardhul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.