Star India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was on Sunday promoted to A+ Grade in the BCCI's annual player contracts for the men's team for the 2022-23 season, joining Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah in the highest category.
Apart from Jadeja, other all-rounders Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya were promoted to Grade A, from B and C respectively, while KL Rahul was dropped from A to B. On the other hand, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav have moved up to Grade B from C, a BCCI media release said.
Pacer Shardul Thakur was dropped from Grade B to C, while Kuldeep Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and KS Bharat are all newly-contracted players in Grade C.
Veterans Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were previously in Grade B, have not been given contracts, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha and Deepak Chahar have all been dropped from the list.
There are four groups in the BCCI's contract list, with 'A+' players on INR 7 crore retainers, 'A' players INR 5 crore, 'B' players INR 3 crore, and 'C' players INR 1 crore.
List of BCCI contracts for men:
Grade A+ category: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
Grade A category: Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel
Grade B category: Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill
Grade C category: Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat