Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma demoted as BCCI releases annual contracts for 2025-26 season
(Courtesy :Â BCCI)
Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja are three players in the top Grade A category.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the central contracts for Indian players for the 2025-26 season on Monday, February 9. The Governing body revealed the contracts of both men’s and women’s players.
Interestingly, BCCI has removed the A+ category in their latest contracts. In the last season, the A+ was the top category and was reserved for players who used to play in all three formats. Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja were the four players in that category.
However, in the latest annual contracts, BCCI only have three categories- Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C. A total of 30 men’s players have been offered central contracts by the BCCI for the 2025-26 season.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma demoted to Grade B category in BCCI contracts
Out of these 30 players, three are part of Grade A, 11 are placed in Grade B, while 16 are part of Grade C. Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah are three players in the Grade A. Also, Rohit and Kohli have been demoted to Grade B following their retirements from tests last year.
Other than Kohli and Rohit, the other members in Group B are Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shreyas Iyer.
On the other hand, 21 women’s players have earned a spot in the BCCI’s annual contracts. Four women players are part of the Grade A contract, namely Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma.
Grade B also has four players- Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Sneh Rana. 13 players are placed in Grade C.
BCCI annual retainership contracts for men’s players
| Player Name | Grade |
|---|---|
| Shubman Gill | A |
| Jasprit Bumrah | A |
| Ravindra Jadeja | A |
| Washington Sundar | B |
| Rohit Sharma | B |
| Virat Kohli | B |
| KL Rahul | B |
| Mohd Siraj | B |
| Hardik Pandya | B |
| Rishabh Pant | B |
| Kuldeep Yadav | B |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | B |
| Suryakumar Yadav | B |
| Shreyas Iyer | B |
| Axar Patel | C |
| Tilak Varma | C |
| Rinku Singh | C |
| Shivam Dube | C |
| Sanju Samson | C |
| Arshdeep Singh | C |
| Prasidh Krishna | C |
| Akash Deep | C |
| Dhruv Jurel | C |
| Harshit Rana | C |
| Varun Chakaravarthy | C |
| Nitish Kumar Reddy | C |
| Abhishek Sharma | C |
| Sai Sudharsan | C |
| Ravi Bishnoi | C |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | C |
BCCI’s annual contracts for the women’s players
| Player Name | Grade |
|---|---|
| Harmanpreet Kaur | A |
| Smriti Mandhana | A |
| Jemimah Rodrigues | A |
| Deepti Sharma | B |
| Renuka Thakur | B |
| Shafali Verma | B |
| Richa Ghosh | B |
| Sneh Rana | B |
| Radha Yadav | C |
| Amanjot Kaur | C |
| Pratika Rawal | C |
| Kranti Gaud | C |
| Uma Chetry | C |
| Arundhati Reddy | C |
| Sree Charani | C |
| Yastika Bhatia | C |
| Harleen Deol | C |
| Kashvee Gautam | C |
| G Kamalini | C |
| Vaishnavi Sharma | C |
| Tejal Hasabnis | C |
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are in which grade in BCCI’s central contracts for 2025-26?
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are in Group B in BCCI’s central contracts for 2025-26.
Which players are placed in the top Grade A in the BCCI’s central contracts for 2025-26?
Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah are placed in the top grade A category in BCCI’s central contracts for 2025-26.
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Vikas Singh Derek is a core cricket-lover since childhood and has always followed the sport both in his personal and professional life. He started his school life by watching cricket at home with family. Later, he played cricket on the field at local clubs during college. After his Master's in Journalism from Mumbai, he followed his passion by covering cricket news across various digital media. Since 2015, he has been an aspiring sports journalist and cricket content writer with over 50K+ articles.