Veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara and former Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane were downgraded in the BCCI’s latest central contracts list, which was approved by the board’s Apex Council on Wednesday. There are four categories of BCCI- A whose annual remuneration is Rs 7 crore while categories A, B and C are valued at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively. Last time 28 cricketers were given central contracts but this year 27 have been given contracts with Rohit Sharma. Virat Kohli And Jasprit Bumrah is steady as a player.
Accordingly, Pujara, Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were in Grade A, now in Grade B, were ruled out of the upcoming home Test series against Sri Lanka after a fall in form.
On January 20, PTI reported that he would be downgraded.
Group A, which earlier had 10 players, is now five with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami retaining their slots.
However, the biggest demotion was for injury-hit all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was dropped from Grade A to C in the list along with senior opener Shikhar Dhawan, who now plays only one format and that is ODIs.
Controversial keeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who has been dropped from the Test squad, will be over Rs 1 crore richer even after being demoted from Group B to C.
Saha, who has breached the central contract clause by making public comments on selection matters and statements on BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and head coach Rahul Dravid, has been placed in Group C, although it has been made clear by the team management that he will be Not likely to play for India again.
The day the ratification took place, but it was decided long ago that some non-executors would be demoted.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Navdeep Saini, who were part of the first group, have been completely dropped from the list.
Mayank Agarwal, who was inconsistent throughout, has now been demoted from Group B to Group C.
Those who have been rewarded are Mohammad Siraj, who is now in Group B for his lion-hearted performance, while Suryakumar Yadav, having played the required number of games, is now in Group C.
Promotion of Deepti, Rajeshwari among women
In the women’s central contracts, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gaikwad joined Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav, who were already in Group A, with an annual retainership fee of Rs 50 lakh.
Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami remain in Group B (Rs 30 lakh). Jemima Rodrigues has been demoted from Group B to C (Rs 10 lakh).
Venue fixed for South Africa series
The BCCI also confirmed five venues for the five-match T20I series against South Africa. The matches will be held in Cuttack, Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Rajkot and Chennai. The series will be played in June after the IPL.
Abhay Kuruvilla now the new GM (Cricket Operations)
Former pacer Abhay Kuruvilla, who was appointed senior national selector last year, has stepped down and is now the new general manager (cricket operations), vacated by Dheeraj Malhotra.
Malhotra had resigned a few months back to join Delhi Capitals.
Kuruvilla, who had toppled Ajit Agarkar to claim the post of West Zone selector, had to step down as the Constitution states that no national selector (junior or senior) in the aggregate will hold office for more than five years. But can’t stay.
While appointing Kuruvilla, it was not taken into account that he had completed four years as the chairman of the junior national selection committee, so he had only one year.
National Women’s T20 from April 15
The senior women’s domestic T20 tournament, which was postponed due to the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin on April 15 and continue till May 12.
The Apex Council also approved the holding of the CK Nayudu Trophy from March 15 to May 1.
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