Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma ineligible; Jasprit Bumrah's retirement being plotted at BCCI

Jasprit Bumrah Virat Kohli Rohit Sharma for India. Image Credits: X

Senior Indian players Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah are all set to face massive changes in the BCCI Central Contracts. The BCCI is all set to introduce a revamped central contract in the coming days. 

The apex cricket board of India annually releases contracts, which features four categories - A+, A, B, and C. However, there were reports that in the revamped mode, the board will get rid of the A+ category.

In the latest events, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia has confirmed the reports and also cleared the confusion among fans. Speaking to Sportstar, Saikia clarified that the board is not axing the A+ category, but stated that none of the players are eligible for the top-most contract, which is why the BCCI central contract 2025-2026 will not have the A+ category.

Saikia confirms Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma ineligible for A+ central contract

Saikia confirmed that Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja won’t be a part of the central contract’s A+ category because they are only active in one or two formats. For the unversed, BCCI states that a player should be playing in all three formats to be eligible for the top-most contract.

 We are removing one category because the players who were eligible for the A-plus category are now playing just one of the three formats. The criteria we have set to qualify a player for A-plus are not being fulfilled,” Devajit Saikia told Sportstar.

“Some of the players who were in that A-plus bracket have decided not to play in all three formats. Therefore, there are not enough players remaining to qualify and fulfil the eligibility criteria,” Devajit Saikia said.

Devajit Saikia drops massive remark on Jasprit Bumrah

For the unversed, only four players - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja are placed in the A+ category. Now, Saikia made a big remark stating that none of the players is eligible for the A+ category. He also added that the players will not play all three formats. The remark has raised curiosity among fans regarding Jasprit Bumrah’s future.

Notably, Jasprit Bumrah is going through a difficult phase, where he is struggling to play all games. Even in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand, Bumrah was rested for the 2nd T20I. Therefore, it is likely that the 32-year-old might be left out of the A+ category because of his recent workload management and absence in series against lower-ranked teams. 

However, Sportstar reported that Jasprit Bumrah is unlikely to face a pay cut despite being demoted in the central contract.

BCCI Central Contract list 2024-2025

Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

Grade A: Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya

Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal

Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, 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, Harshit Rana