The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the player contracts for the 2025-26 season, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma ‘s demotion to the B Grade being the most notable change.
However, there were some high-profile players who were left out by the BCCI entirely. The likes of Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, and Sarfaraz Khan were among the most notable absentees from the list of retained players released by the BCCI. A PTI report explained what led to the trio’s removal from the list.
During the last cycle, 34 players were awarded contracts, but this time the list has been pruned to 30. Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami, keeper-batter Ishan Kishan, seamer Mukesh Kumar, and Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan didn’t figure in the list.
The reason being during the said cycle, they didn’t play a single international game across any format.
Shami’s exclusion is an indication that he is no longer in the selectors’ scheme of things. While Kishan made a spectacular comeback in T20Is, it was only in the new cycle. In the case of Mukesh, he is no longer in the radar and didn’t play last season.
Ditto for Sarfaraz, who was part of the squad in Australia but did not play a single game. He had no matches to show for contract retention.
In the 30 names, only three have got grade A, 11 have been listed in grade B, and 16 others in grade C. The only surprise, although of minor proportions, is senior player Axar Patel, who regularly plays ODI and T20Is and is part of Test squad, being relegated to group C with one-format players.
BCCI Central Contracts 2025-26
Grade A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja
Grade B: Washington Sundar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer
Grade C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad