The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced its annual player retainership for the Indian women’s cricket team on Thursday, April 27. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who recently led Mumbai Indians to the Women’s Premier League title in the inaugural edition of the league, has retained her place in Grade A as well, along with swashbuckling opener Smriti Mandhana, and veteran all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who has been promoted to Grade A from Grade B.

Meanwhile, veteran Indian spinner Poonam Yadav, who was placed in Grade A last time around, has been dropped from the list as well. Another big mover in the list is young and talented wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh, who has jumped to Grade B in the newly announced player contracts. Meanwhile, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Varma and Rajeshwari Gayekwad have all retained their Grade B contracts this season as well.

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However, Radha Yadav have been demoted from Grade B to C, while Pooja Vastrakar and Harleen Deol are retained in Grade C as well. Furthermore, Punam Raut, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia (all Grade B last time), Mansi Joshi, Priya Punia, and Arundhati Reddy (all Grade C last year) have not been retained in the contract list.

Annual player contracts for 2022-23:

Grade A – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma

Grade B – Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Grade C – Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia

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However, Grade A, the highest bracket, are of INR 50 lakh. Meanwhile, Grade B and Grade C are valued at INR 30 lakh and INR 10 lakh respectively, similar to the previous annual contracts for the Indian women’s team as well.