Big changes announced in India's annual player contracts
BCCI announces central contact list for both men's and women's teams for the 2025-26 season.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the central contracts for the 2025–26 season, covering the period from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026.
The headline change in the men’s contracts sees senior stars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma drop down to Grade B, following their retirement from Test cricket last year, with both the stalwarts now featuring in only the 50-over format.
India’s new Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill has earned a maiden promotion to the top grade of Grade A, joining Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja even as the BCCI has removed the Grade A+ category in the contracts.
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A superb century from Shubman Gill against Bangladesh at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy
On the women’s side, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Deepti Sharma continue to retain their places in Grade A category.
They are joined by Jemimah Rodrigues, who earns a promotion after a stellar year, highlighted by her key role in India’s title-winning campaign at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
Sneh Rana also sees a promotion from Grade C to Grade B in the central contract list this year.
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Structurally, the men’s contracts have undergone a change as well. The earlier four-tier system, which included a Grade A+ category, has now been reduced to three tiers, aligning it with the women’s contract structure.
The only new entrant in the men’s list is Sai Sudharsan, who receives a central contract for the first time. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar, and Mukesh Kumar miss out on contracts this season.
In the women’s contracts, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, and Tejal Hasabnis have all been awarded maiden central contracts, while Harleen Deol gets slotted in Grade C.
On the other hand, Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar, and Titas Sadhu are the notable names to miss out this time around.
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Men's Contracts
Grade A - Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade B - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer.
Grade C - Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, 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.
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Women's Contracts
Grade A - Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma
Grade B - Renuka Thakur, Sneh Rana, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh
Grade C - Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal Hasabnis
