Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma relegated to 'Grade B' as BCCI confirms annual central contract list

Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma (Source: AFP Photos)The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday confirmed the central contract list for the 2025-2026 season. As reported earlier by multiple media outlets, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been demoted to Grade B, with Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja being only rewarded with the Grade A contracts.It is important to note that the annual contract list will begin on October 1, 2025 and will end on September 30, 2026.Among women, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma are the Grade A players. Overall, in total, as many as 30 men have received the central contract, while 21 women have awarded with the annual central contracts.Axar Patel, Rahul join Ro-Ko in Grade B; No Ishan KishanTo give Rohit and Kohli a company, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer are picked in Grade B. Meanwhile, Abhishek Sharma, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy and Arshdeep Singh are the notable names in Group C.Notably, there is no place for Ishan Kishan in the central contract list, while Samson, who has been dropped from India's playing XI in T20 World Cup, has got a place in Grade C category.Among others, Rishabh Pant, T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer, and ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav have all been picked under Grade B category. Hardik Pandya, India's USP in limited-overs cricket, has found himself iin Grade B as well.Moreover, Abhishek Sharma, the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, has found a place in Grade C list, with Varun CV, the best T20I bowler according to ICC rankings, in the same bracket as well.BCCI CENTRAL CONTRACT FOR 2025-26 (Men)Grade A - Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.Grade B - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer.Grade C - Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun CV, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan and Ravi Bishnoi.Shafali, Richa in Grade B; Vaishnavi, Harleen pooled in Grade CIn women’s contract chart, as many as four women cricketers are placed in Group B, with Renuka Singh Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana taking the spotlight. On the other hand, Harleen Deol and Vaishnavi Sharma made headlines in Grade C category.BCCI CENTRAL CONTRACT FOR 2025-26 (Women)Grade A - Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma.Grade B - Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana.Grade C - Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Uma Chetri, Arundhati Reddy, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, G. Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal Hasabnis.BCCI Central Contract Salary: How much players earn?Last year, the BCCI rewarded A+ centrally contracted men's players with a whopping INR 7 crore contract. A, B and C category players were, meanwhile, given INR 5 Cr, INR 3 Cr, and INR 1 Cr each, respectively. However, there is no official clarity on this year's central contract salary as of now, with the A+ category no longer available.Regarding women, the BCCI paid INR 50 lakhs to Grade A players last year, while Grade B and Grade C players received INR 30 lakhs and INR 10 lakhs, respectively. As with men, there is still no confirmation of their revised salaries on the just-announced list.It would be interesting to see how BCCI restructures the men's central contract list after scrapping the A+ category. In fact, the focus will be on women’s payslips as well, as they won the historic Women’s World Cup a few months back.