Ravindra Jadeja earns promotion in the Central Contract

India’s seasoned all rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been promoted up to Grade A+ category of Indian Cricket Board central contracts, which has just three other players in Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah. A player in this category earns INR 7 Cr annually. Jadeja’s left arm spin partner Axar Patel has been bumped up from Grade B to A. 

Another player to take a big upward leap is Hardik Pandya, who climbs up from Grade C to Grade A. Pandya had fallen to C last year owing to fitness issues but had been productive since return and even shouldered the captaincy responsibility in white ball cricket in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav and Shubhman Gill have escalated from Grade C to Grade B. 

KS Bharat and Arshdeep Singh have also been awarded with their first central contracts (Grade C). The left arm quickie made headlines with his impressive performance in India’s World Cup campaign last year while Bharat made his Test debut at the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy in the absence of Rishab Pant. 

The likes of Wriddhiman Saha, Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal who earlier this year lost their spot in the Test side, were not included in the contract lists after formerly being in Grade C. Deepak Chahar and Bhuveneshwar are among the other notable names left out of the central contracts. 

Kuldeep, who wasn’t retained the last time around, has been alloted a Grade C contract. KL Rahul on the other hand dropped from Grade A to B.  

Grade A+ (INR 7 Cr): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

Grade A(INR 5 Cr): Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel

Grade B(INR 3 Cr): Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill

Grade C(INR 1 Cr): Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat