BCCI plans to scrap A+ category, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli may face demotion

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) : The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will discuss possible changes in the central contract system of the Indian men's cricket team in its next Apex Council meeting as per the proposals of the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee.

BCCI sources told IANS on Tuesday that the five-member selection panel has prepared some proposals. However, it is believed that these proposals have not yet reached the board's top brass and will be formally discussed in the upcoming meeting.

The source further said, "The possibility of changing the grading system in the central contracts for the Indian men's team will be discussed at the next BCCI Apex Council meeting. The selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, has made some proposals that will be considered at the meeting. The date of the meeting will be announced in due course."

It is also believed that Grade A+ could be gradually phased out. However, the final decision and any financial changes associated with it will only be implemented after approval by the Apex Council.

Currently, the annual retainer for Indian male cricketers is divided into A+, A, B, and C grades, in addition to match fees across formats. Players in Grade A+ receive a retainer of ₹7 crore, while players in Grades A, B, and C receive ₹5 crore, ₹3 crore, and ₹1 crore, respectively. Currently, senior players Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja are included in the A+ category. However, it will be interesting to see whether Kohli and Rohit, who play only ODIs, and Jadeja, who plays Tests and ODIs, will remain in the top tier of annual retainers, especially if the system changes.

According to the 2024/25 contract list announced on April 21, 2025, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill (who is now India's Test and ODI captain), Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant were in Grade A. India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer were placed in Grade B.

Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dubey, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana were placed in Grade C.