Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan back, debutants make Grade C as BCCI announces central contracts for 2024-25 season

On Monday, April 21, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced central contracts for the 2024-25 season. Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have been handed a contract after a year, while debutants across formats, such as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, have also been added to the contracts list.

The BCCI has four grades in its central contract lists, namely A+, A, B, and C. The A+ grade sees the all-format regulars, while the C grade sees the recent debutants across formats. The A+ grade sees ₹7 crore being paid in retainership fee, while A, B, and C see ₹5 crore, ₹3 crore, and ₹1 crore being paid, respectively.

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have been reintroduced into the central contracts list after they were snubbed during the Test series against England last year. Iyer has been inducted into the B-grade category, while Ishan has been added to the C-grade category. Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, and Abhishek Sharma, who made their debuts last year, have been added to the C-grade category.

Here is a list of players included in the BCCI central contracts:

A+ (₹7 crore): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja

A (₹5 crore): Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant

B (₹3 crore): Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer

C (₹1 crore): Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Harshit Rana.

---

India take on England in their upcoming assignment

Post the IPL, India will travel to England for a five-Test series. The first Test begins on June 20 at Headingley, Leeds. The fifth and last game of the series will begin on July 31 at the Oval.

India missed out on a third consecutive appearance in the World Test Championship (WTC) final when they lost 3-1 to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25. The WTC final will be played between Australia and South Africa from June 11 onwards at Lord's, London.