BCCI Central Contracts: Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli may not be demoted

Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, BCCI, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir

March 28, 2025

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BCCI Central Contracts: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli may not be demoted, Shreyas Iyer may be added

Two of the biggest names in modern-day cricket – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have come under heavy speculation, owing to their future in the Indian side. With the duo announcing their retirement from the T20 International format post the ICC T20 World Cup win last year, their new grade in the new central contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is unclear yet.

While the fresh contract is set to be released soon, it is reportedly understood that Rohit, Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja might hold onto their grade A+ status itself. It was earlier reported that they may be demoted, but that does not seem to be happening.

There will be a lot of intrigue surrounding the veteran trio Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja. A Times of India report apparently confirms that apart from the trio above, pacer Jasprit Bumrah will also hold onto his grade A+ contract.

To confirm the status of every player and revise the contract if needed, BCCI is all set to convene a meeting on Saturday, March 29 with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and Head Coach Gautam Gambhir in attendance.

Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, BCCI, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir

The same report also claims that Shreyas Iyer, who was dropped from the contract list for the 2023-24 season for not playing domestic cricket, is set to get it back after his consistent show in white-ball cricket lately.

However, the doubt regarding Ishan Kishan’s inclusion persists. It is believed that there is still uncertainty over his name to be added. For the unversed, Kishan was also stripped of the Central Contract for not participating in the domestic cricket in the previous season.

“Shreyas is set to regain his contract, and it will be in a top category. However, discussions are still ongoing on whether in Ishan’s case,” the report quoted a source as saying. Iyer was India’s top-scorer in the Champions Trophy 2025 and is currently leading Punjab Kings in the IPL. In all likelihood, he will not only be part of the Central Contract list, but he might captain India’s white ball format in the future if he successfully guides PBKS towards their maiden IPL title.

The report also published that all-rounder Axar Patel, who is the vice-captain of India’s T20 side, may be promoted from Grade B to Grade A. Meanwhile, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, all-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Abhishek Sharma may also bag their BCCI central contracts.

Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, BCCI, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir

The A+ category has a retainership fee of INR 7 crore, followed by the A category, where a player gets INR 5 crore. The cricketers in Grade B and C are paid INR 3 crore and 1 crore respectively.

The eligibility criteria for any player to enter the BCCI central contract list, is to play either three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20 Internationals during a particular calendar year for the player to be considered for the following season.

It will also be interesting to see if the aspiring young athlete Yashasvi Jaiswal gets an elevation from his Grade B contract, considering his performance across all formats. In the new list, Bengal speedster Akash Deep, who has played seven Tests and Sarfaraz Khan, who has played three during the calendar year, should also be inducted in Group C.

Whether these names make it to the contract list or face any modification in their existing grade criterion, is something that will be clear once the new list is released by the management.

By: Tulika Agarwal