Indian Cricket Board has announced the list of centrally contracted players for the ongoing cricket season. The board in a press release announcing the list of players retained by them for the cycle of 2022-23. Notably, the number of players in the central contract decreased from 27 to 26 for the upcoming cycle as some of the senior players were left out of the contract list. Senior Players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma, and Wriddhiman Saha have been left entirely out of contract.
Apart from them, pacer Deepak Chahar and Hanuma Vihari were also left out. They have been a part of the previous cycle. Notably, out of these players, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar are the only players who represented India in recent times. However, they have not been consistent and have been outplayed by some youngsters. Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma were playing in Tests but are running out of the game for a year.
Notably, Deepak Chahar, who was in Grade C last year, missed most of the cricket due to an injury and then dip in form. He has been dropped in the pecking order as players like Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh have performed up to the expectation of team management. Arshdeep’s performance has earned him a maiden central contract as he has been included in Grade C. Apart from Arshdeep, players like Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat, Kuldeep Yadav, and Deepak Hooda, also received their maiden central contracts. All of these players have been included in Grade C, which also has star batter Shikhar Dhawan, who only plays ODIs for India.
Ravindra Jadeja gets deserved promotion
One of the biggest highlights of the annual contract of the India Board was Ravindra Jadeja’s promotion. The star allrounder has been moved to the elite list of A+ players from Grade A. He joins the like of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah who receives INR 7 Crore from the board.
Apart from Jadeja, players like Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav also earned a promotion. Both Gill and Surya were moved up to Grade B from Grade C. Meanwhile, allrounder Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya also received a promotion as they were moved to Grade A from B and C, respectively. Star wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson returns to central contract almost after eight long years. He has been added to the list of Grade C players.
