Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma demoted: BCCI’s new central contracts list reveals
Top A grade now held by just three: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finalised its central contracts for the 2025-26 season, featuring 30 players.
According to media reports, former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who have retired from T20Is and Tests, have been moved to Group B following the removal of the A+ category in BCCI’s annual contracts list.
Only three players now occupy the top A grade: Test captain Shubman Gill, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.
Other key players in Group B
India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav joins Kohli, Rohit, and stars like KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, and Washington Sundar in Group B.
Notable omissions
Ishan Kishan, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Mohammed Shami have been left out entirely, raising eyebrows after strong recent performances.
Women’s team contracts
World Cup-winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur leads the women’s top tier alongside Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma. Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh are in Group B, while 12 others are in Group C.
New contract approach
The removal of the Rs70 million A+ tier reflects a merit-based approach, aligning pay with current match involvement rather than past stature. Kohli and Rohit, now featuring in fewer formats, were moved accordingly, though both remain in strong form ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Category-wise breakdown (men)
Grade A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
Grade B: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer
Grade C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad
Category-wise breakdown (women)
Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma
Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana
Grade C: Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaur, Uma Chhetri, Arundhati Reddy, Sri Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvi Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal
