BCCI Central Contract: Why Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja given A+ Category despite T20I Retirement

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, BCCI

April 22, 2025

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BCCI Central Contract: Find out why Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja given A+ Category despite T20I Retirement

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retained their places in the top category of the latest Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) central contract list. Ravindra Jadeja & Jasprit Bumrah have also once again been retained in the Grade A+ category.

The Grade A+ in BCCI’s annual players contract list is the highest category and has a retainership value of INR 7 crore. The remaining A, B and C grades come with annual retainership values of INR 5 crore, 3 crore and 1 crore respectively. As soon as the official list was released on the BCCI site and shared with the media, the question that arose was on what basis Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja have been retained in the A+ Grade despite the trio having retired from the T20 internationals.

The Grade A+ category has only featured players who are an existing and active player of all three formats, which as of now includes only Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah. While all of them were a part of all three formats until 2024, it’s not the case anymore for three of them barring Bumrah.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, BCCI

The interesting part here however is that the latest 2024-25 BCCI contract list had an assessment year from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024. So even if the duration of the new contract is 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, the players were selected and added on the basis of their performance during the period of from October 2023 to September 2024.

During this period, the trinity of Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja were still playing for India in all the formats.

‘The period of fresh central contract is from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. But the assessment year is October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja played the T20 World Cup final in June 2024 and hence at that time, they were all-format regulars. Going by that technicality, they are supposed to be in A+ category’, a BCCI official had informed the PTI news publication on account of anonymity.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja had announced their retirement from the T20I format in late June 2024 after winning the T20 World Cup in West Indies. Hence, in all likelihood, all three of will be excluded from the A+ category list in the next assessment period from October 2024 onwards, which will take place next year.

Another topic related to the player retention list is Rishabh Pant being promoted to ‘A’ from ‘B’ category, even though he has not been a regular part of the T20Is or ODIs for the international matches. The BCCI official mentioned that Pant did not play any cricket during the assessment period of the previous contract due to a life-threatening car accident, but in the assessment period of the recent contract list, he has been part of at least two different formats which is the required criteria to enter the Grade A category, and so the necessary change was made.

With the 2024-25 list released by the BCCI, Ishan Kishan makes a comeback in the Grade C category after a controversial year, and numerous new players have also been added to the list owing to their consistent performance for the country.