Players to get new contract. Dhoni may not figure in top grade

Bengaluru, February 28: The Supreme Court appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) might put in place new contract system for Indian players and this could come into effect even before the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka next month.

According to the new system, players will be divided into four categories - A+, A, B, C instead of the current three tier system - A, B C.

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This new system will be a performance based grade system with players getting benefits as per their efforts on the field. As such, MS Dhoni, India's most successful captain, may not feature in the A+ grade because he no longer plays the Tests.

There will come the issue of players like Cheteshwar Pujara, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who now do not feature in the ODIs or T20Is. Even though these players may not figure in the A+ grade, their financial rewards may not suffer a big hit because the new system fixes the remuneration as per the player performance.

Cricket historian Ramachandra Guha, who resigned from the COA, made such a proposal last year through a letter to Vinod Rai, head of the COA.

It is learnt that the decision to implement the new contract method was take after discussions with captain Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri and Dhoni.

Another feature of the new contract system is that a player making his T20I debut for India will not automatically come under Grade C contract, a deviation from the existing norm.

However, sections of the BCCI, including the Finance Committee led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, has not taken the development happily as they felt that the COA has exceeded its ambit while setting the terms for new players' contract.