The veteran Indian Test cricketers, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s position in grade A of the BCCI central contracts could be subject to be change to Grade B when the board finalizes its fresh list of contracted players for the upcoming season in a few days’ time. Another big question is whether the BCCI top officials are in a mood to upgrade two future captaincy contenders — KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant — alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah in the elite A+ category.

The BCCI has four categories — A+, A, B, and C — which carry annual retainership of INR 7 crore, INR 5 crore, INR 3 crore, and INR 1 crore respectively. Normally, it is the three BCCI officials, five selectors, and the national head coach, who decide retainer ships.

As of now, there won’t be massive changes to the 28 names featured in the list that was made the last time but there could be some serious discussions about the composition of the current groups which were in place last year.

ALSO READ: Rohit Sharma, Pant, Ashwin Feature In ICC Men’s Test Team Of 2021

As per the quotes in News18, a snior BCCI source informed, “Obviously, Rohit, Kohli, and Bumrah being the three indispensable players across formats would be in A plus category beyond doubt. But now Rahul and Pant are slowly establishing themselves as all-format regulars, so it needs to be seen whether the duo gets promotion or not.”

Last Season’s (2021) Contract List

Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

Grade  A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohd. Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya

ALSO READ: Sourav Ganguly Was Going To Issue A Show Cause Notice To Virat Kohli?

Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal

Grade C: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Md.Siraj.