Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli handed Grade 'B' central contracts

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been handed 'Grade B' central contracts in BCCI's retainer list for the 2025-26 season, announced on Monday (February 9).

The 'A+' category of contract has been done away with for the season, with Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah handed the top Grade A contract.

As many as 30 players have been given central contracts across three categories – Grade A, Grade B, and Grade C. Five players have missed out on the central contracts from the 2024-25 list while Sai Sudharsan is the only new addition, included in Grade C.

With only three brackets currently, Grade B includes 11 players. Apart from the two Indian legends, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya have all moved into this bracket. Washington Sundar has moved up a grade to Grade B. Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, and Kuldeep Yadav retain their place in this grade. Mohammed Shami, who was in Grade A last year, has missed out on a contract entirely.

Ishan Kishan, who was included in Grade C last year, misses out, along with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Mukesh Kumar. Axar Patel has suffered a demotion, moving from Grade B to Grade C.

The other players in the 15-man Grade C category who retain their place are Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Varun Chakaravarthy, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad and the promoted Sudharsan.

Central Contract List 2025-26:

Grade A (3 players): Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

Grade B (11 players): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer

Grade C (15 players): Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad

OUT: Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar, Mukesh Kumar, Sarfaraz Khan