Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a major reshuffle of its central contracts for the 2025–26 season, with former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma moved to Grade B following a revision of the grading structure.
Both senior batters are currently active in only one international format, a factor that appears to have influenced their placement. The board has also discontinued the A+ category that existed in the previous contract cycle, resulting in a streamlined three-tier system.
New Top Tier: Grade A
Only three players feature in the highest Grade A bracket this season—Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, and senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The contracts will be in effect from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026.
Gill is seen as the biggest beneficiary of the overhaul after assuming leadership duties in both Tests and ODIs. Bumrah continues to spearhead India’s pace attack across formats, while Jadeja remains a key figure in the Test side with his experience and all-round contributions.
Last season, Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah and Jadeja were all part of the now-defunct A+ category.
Strong Middle Tier in Grade B
Grade B includes a wide mix of leaders and format specialists, such as T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant, and established names like KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya. Bowlers Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj also feature in this group.
The revised structure indicates that the earlier Grade A and B brackets have effectively been consolidated into a single middle tier, with several players—Washington Sundar among them—gaining from the change.
Notable Calls and Omissions
One of the more surprising decisions sees Axar Patel placed in Grade C, despite his consistent white-ball presence and current role as vice-captain of India’s T20 World Cup squad.
The total number of contracted players has been reduced from 34 to 30, with no new entrants added this season. Senior pacer Mohammed Shami, along with Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar, have been left out of the latest list.
Grade C Mixes Experience and Youth
Grade C includes a blend of established performers and emerging talents such as Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The BCCI has not released details regarding the financial slabs attached to each contract category.
