Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja stay top of BCCI contract list despite T20I exit

Dubai: Stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have retained their top spots in the Indian board’s annual central contracts despite announcing their retirement from the Twenty20 format.

Jasprit Bumrah is the only other member in the Grade A+ category, who currently features in all three formats of the game. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were excluded from the retainership list last year, have regained their annual contracts in the latest announcement by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which features a total of 34 players.

Kohli and Rohit Sharma came under fire for their lacklustre performances in Australia. However, both veterans played key roles in guiding their respective franchises to crucial victories in Indian Premier League Season 18.

Kohli smashed an unbeaten 73 and Rohit Sharma struck form with 76 not out in match-winning knocks for Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

The in-form Kohli hit his fourth half-century of this edition of the popular T20 tournament to anchor Bengaluru’s chase of 158 in a seven-wicket win over Punjab Kings at Mullanpur, near Chandigarh.

Rohit struck form with his first fifty this season in the second match of the day to lead Mumbai’s nine-wicket hammering of Chennai Super Kings in a battle of heavyweights.

Rohit, 37, put on 114 runs with Suryakumar Yadav, who hit 68 off 30 balls, as they steered the five-time champions’ chase of 177, getting there with 26 balls to spare.

Rohit, 37, came in as impact substitute in the chase and put on 63 with Ryan Rickleton, who fell for 24 off Ravindra Jadeja, to lay the foundations of Mumbai’s third straight win.

“After being here for such a long period of time, it’s easy to start doubting yourself and start doing different things,” Rohit said after being named player of the match.

“For me, it was important to do simple things and have a clear mindset. It was important for me to hold my shape and extend my arms, and when the ball was in my area, I had to do what I have been doing.”

Mohammed Siraj, who was omitted from the Champions Trophy squad, finds himself in Grade A alongside KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant.

Of the remaining 24 players, five have been placed in Grade B, while 19 feature in Grade C.

Players receive annual retainer fees based on their grade:

Grade A+: Rs70 million

Grade A: Rs50 million

Grade B: Rs30 million

Grade C: Rs10 million

In addition to their salaries, players earn match fees of Rs1.5 million for Tests, Rs600,000 for ODIs, and Rs300,000 for T20Is.

These contracts come with additional perks such as performance bonuses and endorsement opportunities. Contracted players are also required to participate in domestic cricket when not on national duty, strengthening Indian cricket at all levels.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.

Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant.

Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer.

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, Harshit Rana.