Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur have been promoted after their recent exploits in India’s colours, while limited-over specialists wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been demoted in the list of Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) annual retainer contracts for the period from October 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
The BCCI announced the list on Thursday.
Hardik, having recovered from his back injury and resumed bowling, has been promoted from Grade B to A, while Shardul has been elevated from Grade C to B. Kuldeep, on the other hand, has been the biggest sufferer, having been demoted from Grade A to C, while Chahal has slipped from B to C. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has also been downgraded from A to B.
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Grade A+ has been retained with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah being the top earners. Of the 27 contracted players from the previous cycle, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav have been excluded. The 28-member list has three new entrants in Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj and Shubman Gill.
The contracted players:
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Grade A (₹5 crore): R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B (₹3 crore): Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur and Mayank Agarwal.
Grade C (₹1 crore): Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj .