BCCI releases annual contracts 2018 list with shockers, check

Mumbai: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday released the 26-member list of annual contracts system 2018 with shockers.

Astonishingly, former Indian skipper MS Dhoni is not included in the top bracket and demoted to the Group A category alongwith Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha. Dhoni will take home Rs 5 crore.

Seamer Mohammed Shami found himself out of the BCCI’s 26-member annual contracts system, which saw the addition of a new category.

The removal of Shami may be a coincidence with the ongoing controversy involving his wife, who accused the Bengal pacer, who was in the B category in the last term, of domestic violence and extra-marital affairs.

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Also out of the contracts are Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant and Mandeep Singh, while Suresh Raina returned and features in the C category, earning Rs 1 crore.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) for BCCI announced that the contracts run from October 2017 to September 2018.

"The CoA was of the view that the performance and position of Indian Cricket needs to be recognised with the fee structure comparable to the best in the world," a release said.

The new category, termed A+, includes captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- all of them entitled to an annual pay of Rs 7 crore -- an increase of Rs 5 crore for the top bracket.

Delhi left-handed opening batsman Dhawan has seen a meteoric rise as he was in the C category last year.

The likes of Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav are in the B category, under which the players will take Rs 3 crore. Yuzvendra Chahal has jumped a category to be in B.

Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav remain in the C category.

Meanwhile, 19 women cricketers have been given contracts across three categories. In the A category, Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will get Rs 50 lakh each per year.

The players in the B category will get Rs 30 lakh. A new C category has been declared, with the players in this category standing to earn Rs 10 lakh per year.

The likes of Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht and Rajeshwari Gayakwad are in the B category.

Sushma Verma, Punam Raut and teenager Jemimah Rodrigues are in the C category.

The BCCI also sanctioned the creation of a Players Revenue / Compensation Equalization Fund" (PR/CEF) to which it will contribute approximately Rs 125 crore per annum from its surplus in order to insulate the player compensation as the income of the board fluctuates on an annual basis depending on the number of home matches Team India (senior men) plays.

Check the complete list here:

Grade A +

1. Virat Kohli
2. Rohit Sharma
3. Shikhar Dhawan
4. Bhuvneshwar Kumar
5. Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A

1. Ravichandran Ashwin
2. Ravindra Jadeja
3. Murali Vijay
4. Cheteshwar Pujara
5. Ajinkya Rahane
6. MS Dhoni
7. Wridhhiman Saha

Grade B

1. KL Rahul
2. Umesh Yadav
3. Kuldeep Yadav
4. Yuzvendra Chahal
5. Hardik Pandya
6. Ishant Sharma
7. Dinesh Karthik

Grade C

1. Kedar Jadhav
2. Manish Pandey
3. Axar Patel
4. Karun Nair
5. Suresh Raina
6. Parthiv Patel
7. Jayant Yadav