(Image source from: Hungamaexpress.com)
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is said to be working on a significant change to its Central Contract tier system. As reported by ANI, the board may eliminate the highest A+ category, which used to be for players who played in all formats like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah. The report indicated that Kohli and Rohit, who have stepped back from Test and T20 matches, could be moved down to the ‘B’ category for the first time in over ten years. According to the information, a new system with only three categories—A, B, and C—has been suggested by the men’s selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar and is waiting for approval. Launched in April 2025, the central contracts for 2024–25 place Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja in the highest A+ group. Players like Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, and Rishabh Pant are included in Grade A.
Grade B features Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer. In Grade C, there are 19 players, mostly who play just one format, including: Varun Chakaravarthy, Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Akash Deep, Sarfaraz Khan, Tilak Verma, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Ishan Kishan, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Rajat Patidar, Mukesh Kumar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, and Shivam Dube. Players in the A+ category earn Rs. 7 crore each year, while Grade A players receive Rs. 5 crore, Grade B gets Rs. 3 crore, and Grade C gets Rs. 1 crore. The BCCI moves players between these categories each year, adding some and removing others based on their status and performance in different formats.
Every few years, the BCCI also raises the payment amounts across the categories. This year, with only three categories, the amount should ideally increase greatly, although the report mentioned that this will be decided in the next Apex Council meeting of the central board. With Jadeja also retired from T20 matches and his performance in ODIs declining, and Bumrah frequently resting for bilateral series, there are no senior players who are truly all-format professionals. Most players participating in more than two formats are young talents like Rana and Reddy, who are still adjusting in various teams.
