Full list of BCCI's contracted players for 2019; Kohli, Bumrah, Rohit in Grade A+; Pant, Kuldeep bag Grade A contracts

Full list of BCCIs contracted players for 2019; Kohli, Bumrah, Rohit lead A+ category; Pant, Kuldeep get category A

New Delhi, March 8: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the latest Central Contracts list for India players on Thursday (March 7).

Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan, in all likelihood, has been dropped from the topmost category, while young Rishabh Pant was rewarded with an entry into the A category.

The BCCI has not released the list officially but as per reports, the Supreme Court-appointed three-member Committee of Administrators signed the contracts, which run from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019.

The A-plus category players get a yearly retainer fee of Rs 7 crore, while A category players get richer by Rs 5 crore. Those in Category B receive an annual fee of Rs 3 crore while those in Category C get Rs 1 crore.

Grade A+ (INR 7 crore)

Players in Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.

The Elite list A+ Category is set to comprise only three players ---skipper Virat Kohli, his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, who is ranked No.1 in the ODIs.

OUT: Dhawan, who is no longer a part of the Test set-up and had a poor last three months in limited overs format, has been reportedly demoted from A plus to A category.

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has also fallen off the radar as an all format player, is also not in the elite list.

Grade A (INR 5 crore)

Pant, the young wicketkeeper-batsman, has been rewarded for his good show in Test cricket and has jumped directly into A group after being ignored last year. Pant has been rewarded for his hundreds in England and Australia and he is ready to take on the mantle from MS Dhoni once he retires from limited overs.

Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav also made it to the A category for his stupendous show in all the formats. The Uttar Pradesh wrist-spinner has been key to India's success in the white ball format and grabs every opportunity he gets in red ball cricket.

Cheteshwar Pujara despite his stupendous show in Australia remained in A category since he is only one format player.

List of Players in Grade A: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant.

Grade B (INR 3 crore)

Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, who were suspended for the sexist comments during a TV chat show, continue to remain in the B category. Kuldeep's wrist spin twin in limited overs, Yuzvendra Chahal also continues to be in the Grade B along with pacer Umesh Yadav.

Players in Grade B: KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya.

Grade C (INR 1 crore)

Players in Grade C: Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha.

Hanuma Vihari, and Khaleel Ahmed - who made their debuts last year - along with Ambati Rayudu (who is India's No. 4 in ODIs), Dinesh Karthik, Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey were put in Grade C.

OUT

Veteran cricketer Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Murali Vijay were dropped from this year's central contract list. This very much puts at least a comma on their India return.

While Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, and Karun Nair also found themselves out of the central contract.

Women Cricketers

Grade A (INR 50 lakh): Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav.

Grade B (INR 30 lakh): Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues

Grade C (INR 10 lakh): Radha Yadav, D Hemalatha, Anuja Patil, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut, Mona Meshram, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Taniya Bhatia, Pooja Vastrakar.