BCCI announce central contracts for 2018/19 season

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced the annual central contracts for Indian players for the 2018/19 season. In the period starting from October 2018 and leading up to September 2019, a total of 25 men's cricketers and 20 women's cricketers have earned contracts of varying amounts.

Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant has earned a direct entry into the Grade A category. After missing out on a central contract last year, he has surged to the second highest category amounting to INR 5 crores per annum.

Aside from Pant, ten other players feature in the Grade A category. In the Grade A+ classification, only three players are included in the highest bracket. Skipper Virat Kohli, opener Rohit Sharma and pacer Jasprit Bumrah have all acquired contracts of INR 7 crores each.

Four players, including the likes of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, feature in the Grade B category of INR 3 crores. Seven cricketers find a place in the Grade C bracket which amounts to INR 1 crore.

In the women's team, ODI skipper Mithali Raj, T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur, opener Smriti Mandhana and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav comprise the highest category. The Grade A contract provides INR 50 lakhs to each player.

Veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami and promising batter Jemimah Rodrigues are included in the Grade B bracket which entails INR 30 lakhs.

The Grade C classification, which amounts to INR 10 lakhs, sees as many as 11 cricketers feature in the list.

BCCI Central Contracts for 2018/19

Indian men's team

Grade A+ (INR 7 crores) - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A (INR 5 crores) - Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant

Grade B (INR 3 crores) - KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya

Grade C (INR 1 crore) - Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed and Wriddhiman Saha

Indian women's team

Grade A (INR 50 lakhs) - Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav

Grade B (INR 30 lakhs) - Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues

Grade C (INR 10 lakhs) - Radha Yadav, D Hemalatha, Anuja Patil, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mansi Joshi, Punam Raut, Mona Meshram, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Taniya Bhatia and Pooja Vastrakar