New Delhi: The BCCI is set to streamline the players’ central contracts by doing away with the A+ category introduced back in 2018.
As per the existing policy, a cricketer in A+ category is paid Rs 7 crore annually, Rs 5 crore in A category, Rs 3 crore in B and Rs 1 crore in C.
In the yet to be announced retainers for 2025-26, players will only be bracketed in A, B and C categories.
Only four players, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja, were placed in the highest A+ category in the previous cycle.
Out of four, only Jasprit Bumrah remains an all-format player. Kohli and Rohit play only the ODI format, while Jadeja remains part of the Test and ODI set up, having retired from the shortest format.
No paycut for Bumrah and other A contract holders
The central contracts will be ratified at the next Apex Council meeting. However, a BCCI official told PTI there would be no pay cut for someone like Bumrah, who remains the leader of the pace attack in all formats despite missing games and there due to workload management.
Shubman Gill, who leads India in Tests and ODIs, too will feature in the A category.
Considering that superstars Rohit and Kohli are one-format players, they are likely to be placed in B category.
“This is being done to simplify the contract structure. There are not many players who are part of all formats. Someone like Bumrah, who remains one of the few all-format players, will continue to be placed in the highest category, and there would be no paycut,” the official said.
With players in the A category likely to be paid Rs 7 crore, there could be a rejig in the payment structure in the B category.
Besides Bumrah, some of the other players who remain active in all formats include wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, all-rounders Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. Axar and Kuldeep were in the B category in the previous cycle, while Washington was in C.
The set to be removed A+ category was introduced in 2018 when the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators governed the BCCI.
PTI
