Former India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and veteran India pacer Ishant Sharma are set to be released from the BCCI’s central contract for this year. In-form India batsman Suryakumar Yadav, opening batsman Shubhman Gill and all-rounder Hardik Pandya are likely to get promoted in the central contract. There are talks that Hardik is likely to be named the next T20 captain for the T20 World Cup and thus is could be promoted to group B from group C. Another key name who is likely to be axed is wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha. Red-ball specialist wicket-keeper batsman, Saha was suggested to take retirement by India head coach Rahul Dravid.
Hustle __ Haasil _ pic.twitter.com/ui7H3Dtg4A— Ajinkya Rahane (@ajinkyarahane88) December 11, 2022
“Surya was in Group C but his performance in the last one year warrants a promotion to Group B at least, if not A. He is currently world No. 1 in T20I ICC rankings and is a serious contender in ODI team also,” a senior official, who is privy to the developments told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
Gill, who now plays regularly in both Tests and ODIs, might anticipate moving up from Group C to B. Ishan Kishan, who hit 210 on Saturday, is probably going to be on the list. Pandya might be a part of group B after a run of reliable performances. After missing a significant portion of the previous season owing to a back injury, he was downgraded to Group C the previous year.
BCCI’s central contracts
A+ Grade – Rs 7 crore
Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.
A Grade – Rs 5 crore
Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Mohammed Shami.
B Grade – Rs 3 crore
Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya
C Grade – Rs 1 crore
Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Yuzvendra Chahal, Suryakumar Yadav and Mayank Agarwal.