Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Siraj have been promoted while Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya are among the prominent cricketers to have been demoted in the list of Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual retainer for 2012-22.Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Siraj have been promoted while Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya are among the prominent cricketers to have been demoted in the list of Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual retainer for 2012-22.
The 28-member list of centrally contracted cricketers from October 2021 to September 2022 was ratified by the BCCI president, secretary and chairman of selectors. apex council meeting during its meeting on Wednesday night. The list, accessed by The Hindu, has halved the number of cricketers in Grade A (₹ 5 crore) from 10 to five. while three of the five demoted cricketers - Rahane, Pujara and Ishant - have been moved to Grade B (₹ 3 crore), Dhawan and Hardik were dumped from Grade A to Grade C (₹ 1 crore). Rahane, Pujara and Ishant have been dropped for the Test series versus Sri Lanka, Dhawan has remained as a single-format cricketer, perhaps the only ODI specialist in India.
Hardik, meanwhile, hasn’t been considered for selection since India’s disastrous T20 World Cup outing last year. From the list of 29 contracted cricketers for the previous year, Kuldeep Yadav and Navdeep Saini have been omitted for the ongoing cycle.
Suryakumar Yadav is the only entrant to the list. Shreyas, Axar and Siraj have been rewarded for their exploits across formats. There has been no change in the amount of retainer, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah being persisted with in the top tier of ₹7 crore. The annual retainers’ list is conventionally finalised by the BCCI president, secretary and chairman of selectors.
The grades:
Grade A+ (₹7 cr.): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah; Grade A (₹5 cr.): K.L. Rahul, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami.
Grade B (₹3 cr.): Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj.
Grade C (₹1 cr.): Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal.
New entrant: Suyakumar Yadav.
Omisssions: Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini.
Promotions From C to B: Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj.
Demotions: From A to B: Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma; From A to C: Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya; From B to C: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mayank Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha.
