BCCI demotes Mithali Raj to Grade B, Poonam Yadav elevated

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Mithali Dorai Raj

Just a day after releasing the contracts of men’s cricketers, the Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has released the same list for the Indian women’s cricketers too. The most shocking news coming from the released contracts is that veteran Mihali Raj has been demoted to Grade B from Grade A.

This is the first in the last 10 years that Raj has been excluded from Grade A players. Accompanying Mithali in Grade B are players like the young batting-sensation Jemimah Rodrigues, Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Radha Yadav, and Indian speedster Jhulan Goswami.

Meanwhile, Grade A consists of just three players which include the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, left-hand opening batter Smriti Mandhana, and spinner Poonam Yadav. Yadav’s consistency turned out to be a massive boost for the Indian team in recent times. Yadav has taken 72 wickets in 46 ODIs so far with 4 four-wicket hauls to her name.

Smriti Mandhana’s golden run in cricket continues with this Grade A contract. She is currently in the fifth position in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting Rankings and has accumulated 2025 runs in 51 games at an average of 43.

Smriti Mandhana

The Grade A players will make Rs. 50 lakh in the calendar year starting from October 19 to September 2020. On the other hand, the Grade B players will pocket a sum of Rs. 30 Lakhs.

Lastly, Grade C includes Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Mansi Joshi, D. Hemlatha, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia and the 15-year-old batting prodigy Shafali Verma, who will all get a sum of Rs 10 lakh each.

Shafali Verma has been a revelation for Team India in recent times. She has proved herself in the domestic leagues and most recently played a superb knock of 88 runs off just 49 deliveries to take her team past the winning target in the Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy.

Here’s the full list of players in Grade A, B, and C:

Grade A (Rs. 50 lakh) – Harmanpreet Kaun, Smriti Mandhana, and Poonam Yadav.

Grade B (Rs. 30 lakh) – Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Jemimah Rodrigues, Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, and Radha Yadav

Grade C (Rs. 10 lakh) – Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Mansi Joshi, D. Hemlatha, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, and Shafali Verma.