The BCCI contract list for the period from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s Committee of Administrators on Thursday (March 7), with two players who were part of the top-most salary category (A+, which has an annual retainer amount of Rs 7 crore) for the previous contract period being demoted. One player who wasn’t contracted last year has been added to Grade A (the second category with a retainer amount of Rs 5 crore) of the contract list.
#TeamIndia Annual Player Contracts 2018-19: Grade A + @imVkohli @ImRo45 @Jaspritbumrah93 pic.twitter.com/8KCxhPgxb5
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 7, 2019
Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been demoted to Grade A, while captain Virat Kohli, ODI team vice-captain Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are the only Grade A+ cricketers.
Provided below are the full details of the Indian cricket player salaries, their grades and more:
| Grade | Grade A+ (3) | Grade A (11) | Grade B (4) | Grade C (7) |
| Retainer amount (fee) | Rs 7 crores | Rs 5 crores | Rs 3 crores | Rs 1 crore |
| Contracted players |
|
|
|
|
Rishabh Pant has bagged himself Grade A contract after excelling in Test cricket in 2018 and beginning 2019 with an unbeaten 153 against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
#TeamIndia Annual Player Contracts 2018-19: Grade A @ashwinravi99 @imjadeja @BhuviOfficial @cheteshwar1 @ajinkyarahane88 @msdhoni @SDhawan25 @MdShami11 @ImIshant @imkuldeep18 @RishabPant777 pic.twitter.com/ddaXGG7yeV
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 7, 2019
Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma, who were in Grade B (an annual retainer amount of Rs 3 crore) last year, have also been added to the Grade A list, which also includes the legendary MS Dhoni, Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and Test speciaists, R Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, among others. Murali Vijay has been dropped from the BCCI contract list entirely having been a Grade A cricketer in 2017-18.
KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Hardik Pandya are the four Grade B cricketers, who draw an annual retainer amount of Rs 3 crore.
#TeamIndia Annual Player Contracts 2018-19: Grade B@klrahul11 @y_umesh @yuzi_chahal @hardikpandya7 pic.twitter.com/q9BpCILGDm
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 7, 2019
Dinesh Karthik, who was a Grade B cricketer last year, has been demoted to Grade C, which is the last category in the BCCI contract list and has an annual retainership of Rs 1 crore. Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, and Jayant Yadav have been removed from Grade C, which now has Ambati Rayudu, Khaleel Ahmed, Hanuma Vihari, among others.
Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha has been demoted from Grade A to Grade C, with Manish Pandey retaining his Grade C contract along with Kedar Jadhav.
#TeamIndia Annual Player Contracts 2018-19: Grade C@JadhavKedar @DineshKarthik @RayuduAmbati @im_manishpandey @Hanumavihari @imK_Ahmed13 @Wriddhipops pic.twitter.com/R7NfNhlQuI
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 7, 2019
The BCCI contract list has been pruned from 26 to 25, with Vijay among those losing their central contracts. The BCCI annual retainership is exclusive of the match fees that the Indian cricketers receive for every Test, One-Day International and Twenty20 International they play.