BCCI’s Men’s Contracts: Kohli, Rohit and Bumrah earn top dollar

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma along with Jasprit Bumrah will earn Rs 7 crore a year, while Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav face the axe.

It is that time of the year when the fans relentlessly browse the internet to get an insight into what their favourite cricketers earn annually from the BCCI. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.

Being the wealthiest cricketing board on the planet, BCCI has always rewarded excellence with great salaries – more than an average employee can wish for. With a plethora of young talent coming in from every corner of the country, it opens the door for more improvement among the players.

This current contract will cover the period of October 2020 to September 2021, with the salary cap broken down into four grades. The first one is Grade A+, where the player will get an annual salary of Rs 7 crore. Next is Grade A, where the players are rewarded with Rs 5 crore annually.

Then, there are 5 players in the Grade B pool, where the players are awarded a salary of Rs 3 crore, while the 10 players in the last pool, Grade C, will get a salary of Rs 1 crore annually.

Full List of BCCI’s Men’s Contracted Players

Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah.

Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishab Pant, and Hardik Pandya.

Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, and Mayank Agarwal.

Grade C: Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Navdeep Saini, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohammad Siraj.

Who got upgraded?

Hardik Pandya’s explosive batting in the white-ball leg of India’s tour Down Under raised his stock exponentially, after a back injury forced him out of the team for almost half a year. But that didn’t cloud BCCI’s assessment of Pandya as the batting all-rounder got an upgrade from last year’s Grade B contract to a Grade A contract this term.

With all the frontline fast bowlers sidelined with injury, Shardul Thakur took up the mantle of spearheading the Indian bowling line-up and repaid the management’s trust by putting in match altering performances whenever called upon. He, too, has moved up one grade, from C to B, and will now be earning Rs 3 crore as a part of his retainer.

Who got downgraded?

Left-arm Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav has been out of touch for more than two years now, and BCCI’s patience with their prized jewel – Kuldeep being the only Chinaman bowler in the International circuit – has been seriously tested these past six months. His spin twin and partner, Yuzvendra Chahal, has also dropped down the pecking order. While Kuldeep has dropped from Grade A to C, Chahal has dropped only one grade – from B to C.

One of the best swing bowlers in the world right now, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had a troublesome campaign last year, marred by recurring injuries and the subsequent inconsistency. With Bumrah, Ishant, Siraj and Saini all vying for those two out-and-out fast bowling spots, Kumar’s contract got downgraded from Grade A to B despite his match-winning performances in the recently concluded England series.

Just two players have been dropped entirely from BCCI’s annual contract list. Manish Pandey and Kedhar Jadhav, who were both Grade C players last season, have not found a spot on this year’s list. While Manish Pandey can be considered unlucky due to India’s obscene pool of talent at the top order, Kedhar Jadhav hasn’t done anything to warrant another contract from the richest cricketing board in the world.

Newly Contracted

Shubman Gill’s high ceiling and glimpses of promise shown in both of his red-ball series against Australia and England earned him a spot in the BCCI’s retainer list this term, with the Grade C contract earning him Rs 1 crore annually.

Mohammad Siraj’s lion-hearted efforts, be it the Gabbatoir or the dust bowl of Chennai, has won the hearts of the Indian fans and also garnered plaudits from ex-cricketers. His rise in the last 12-18 months has been astronomical, and the BCCI has duly rewarded him with a Grade C contract.

Then, who can forget “Baapu” and the web he spun around the English batsmen and made Test cricket look like a piece of cake? There is just something about Gujarat and left-arm orthodox finger spinners. Axar Patel is the last of the newly contracted players, given the Grade C contract which will see him bag Rs 1 crore over the 12-month period.