BCCI Central Contracts Explained: Check Grades, Salaries Of Indian Players

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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) manages the annual central contracts for the Senior Indian Men's team. These contracts act as a yearly retainership, ensuring financial security for players based on their consistency, format availability, and overall value to the national setup.

However, the latest 2025-26 contract cycle has introduced a major change. The central contracts run for one year, from October 1st to September 30th. Here is a breakdown of the new grading system, the salaries associated with each tier, and the players currently included in the list.

The Major Change: A+ Grade Scrapped

In a massive change to the payment structure, the BCCI's 2025-26 contracts remove the elite A+ grade. Previously, the A+ category offered an annual retainership of ₹7 crore to India's top all-format players. With its removal, the top salary has been cut from ₹7 crore to ₹5 crore, making Grade A the new highest tier.

This move has directly impacted India's ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who now faces a ₹2 crore loss in his guaranteed annual income. However, reports indicate that the BCCI might revisit the pay structure to figure out a way to compensate Bumrah fairly.

With the A+ category gone, the BCCI now divides players into three distinct categories. The salary is paid annually, separate from the match fees players receive for individual games.

• Grade A: ₹5 Crore per annum
• Grade B: ₹3 Crore per annum
• Grade C: ₹1 Crore per annum

Grade A (₹5 Crore)

The criteria to be eligible for Grade A contract is participation in at least two formats, considered an automatic selection in the playing XI, regular pick in Test team with 40 or more matches, world ranking within the top 15.

This category now represents the elite bracket of Indian cricket. Only three players have made the cut for the 2025-26 season.

While Bumrah faces a pay cut due to the tier removal, India's Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja remain in Grade A.

Grade B (₹3 Crore)

The criteria for Grade B contract are that a player must meet at least two of these: participation in at least two formats, automatic selection in the team, world ranking within the top 20, regular pick in Test with 60 or more games. This grade features regular starters and modern-day legends who currently focus on specific formats.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer are in the list of players in Grade B.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been demoted from the top tier to Grade B. This demotion comes after their retirement from T20Is and Tests, as they now exclusively play the ODI format.

Grade C (₹1 Crore)

This tier features upcoming talent, T20 specialists, and players actively building their international careers.

Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad are in Grade C.

Match Fees (Additional Earnings)

Apart from the annual retainership mentioned above, players continue to earn a fixed fee for every international match they play:

• Test Match: ₹15 Lakh
• ODI: ₹6 Lakh
• T20I: ₹3 Lakh