The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is prepared to put into effect a new contract system for central players, which, among other things, will see to the end of the category known as Grade A. In case the new scheme gets the board’s nod, then according to stories from the BCCI, both kingpins of Team India, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be in Grade B. The central contracts going under the purview of the selection committee, with Ajit Agarkar at the head, have been proposed to be changed. The committee has suggested doing away with the A+ category (Rs 7 crore) and just having three A, B, and C left. Next apex council meeting will bring more specific info on the monetary changes and if the BCCI will green-light this new model or not.
If the new model gets the board’s approval, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who are only playing ODIs now, will most likely be in Grade B.
BCCI Central Contracts are the annual retainers given to the Indian cricket players who are classified into four grades A+, A, B, and C, with huge annual fees (Rs 7 crore for A+, Rs 5 crore for A, Rs 3 crore for B, and Rs 1 crore for C) plus match fees.
The players who were part of the 2024-25 list which was revealed in April 2025 include Rohit, Virat, Ravindra Jadeja, and Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the highest category of A+. However, on the contrary, the players namely Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, the captain of the Team India Men’s ODI and Test Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, and Rishabh Pant have been allotted the Grade A category.
T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav along with Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer have been placed in Grade B.
The players who are in Grade C include: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Harshit Rana.