Full list of BCCI's contracted players for 2022; Hardik Pandya biggest loser, Pujara-Rahane downgraded

Full list of BCCIs contracted players for 2022; Hardik Pandya biggest loser, Pujara-Rahane demoted

New Delhi, March 3: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finalised the latest Central Contracts list for India players for the year 2022. The latest central contracts list was ratified by the BCCI's Apex Council on Wednesday (March 2).

As per a PTI report, senior India cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane - who were dropped from the Test squad recently for non-performance - have been downgraded in the latest central contract. Star India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been also demoted from Grade A to C in the central contract. Senior India pacer Ishant Sharma has also been downgraded.

The BCCI has four categories -- A+ which has annual remuneration of Rs 7 crore while A, B and C categories are valued at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively.

Left-arm India spinner Kuldeep Yadav - who recently made his comeback in the limited-overs squad - failed to bag a contract this time around.

The payment structures for Team India (senior men) are as under:

Grade A+ - INR 7 Crore

Grade A - INR 5 Crore

Grade B - INR 3 Crore

Grade C - INR 1 Crore

Grade A+

Last year the board handed central contracts to 28 cricketers but this year, 27 have been awarded. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah remain static as A+ players.

1. Rohit Sharma

2. Virat Kohli

4. Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A:

Grade A, which earlier had 10 players, has now shrunk to five with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami retaining their slots.

1. R Ashwin

2. Ravindra Jadeja

3. Rishabh Pant

4. KL Rahul

5. Mohammed Shami

Grade B:

Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma have only been playing Test cricket but the three were recently dropped from the red-ball squad.

The three cricketers were not included in India's squad for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home.

Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel have been promoted to Grade B for their impressive performances in the last season.

1. Cheteshwar Pujara

2. Ajinkya Rahane

3. Axar Patel

4. Shardul Thakur

5. Shreyas Iyer

6. Mohammed Siraj

7. Ishant Sharma

Grade C:

All-rounder Hardik Pandya - who has been in and out of the side due to injury - has been shunted out from Grade A to C in the list along with senior opener Shikhar Dhawan - who now plays only ODIs.

Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Washington Sundar and Mayank Agarwal were also handed Grade C contracts.

1. Shikhar Dhawan

2. Umesh Yadav

3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar

4. Hardik Pandya

5. Washington Sundar

6. Shubman Gill

7. Hanuma Vihari

8. Yuzvendra Chahal

9. Suryakumar Yadav

10. Wriddhiman Saha

11. Mayank Agarwal