The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual retainership for the 2025-26 season on Monday. This system is designed to recognize players for their contributions while ensuring their financial stability.
Grade A+
The Grade A+ category is the highest tier in the BCCI’s central contracts, with players earning ₹7 crore annually. This elite group remains unchanged from last year, featuring stalwarts like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Jasprit Bumrah. Typically, this bracket is reserved for the most experienced players or those playing key roles across all three formats.
Grade A
Players in the Grade A category receive ₹5 crore per year. Like Grade A+, this list also stays consistent with last season. Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, and Rishabh Pant are all part of this group.
Grade B
Grade B contract holders earn ₹3 crore annually. The notable addition this year is Shreyas Iyer, who returns to the central contracts list after being left out last year. His standout performance during the Champions Trophy 2025 played a big role in his reinstatement. Joining him in this category are Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C
Players in the Grade C category receive an annual salary of ₹1 crore. This tier sees several fresh faces earning their maiden central contracts, including Nitish Kumar Reddy, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, and Harshit Rana. Ishan Kishan and Varun Chakaravarthy also make a return after being left out last year. Meanwhile, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and Rajat Patidar retain their spots. Players who have been dropped from this grade include Shardul Thakur, KS Bharat, Avesh Khan, and Jitesh Sharma.
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