In a bid to strike a balance between players’ demands and BCCI’s coffers, the CoA has arrived at a compromise formula while finalizing the much-delayed player retainers for 2017-18. Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior off-spinner R Ashwin found themselves relegated from the top-paid bracket.

The BCCI introduced an A+ category in the central contracts for which only five players were picked. Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai has revealed that the idea of introducing a new A+ Contract, by the BCCI, was that of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Thus, BCCI on Wednesday announced a new contract system and compensation structure for the players. CoA, appointed by the Supreme Court of India, announced BCCI Annual Player Contracts for the period from October 2017 to September 2018. According to the new structure, there are 4 categories in Indian Men’s team such as Grade A+, Grade A, Grade B and Grade C.

Vinod Rai revealed that the idea of a new Grade A+ came from Kohli and Dhoni. According to Rai, several rounds of discussions were held between himself, Diana Edulji, BCCI chief executive officer Rahul Johri, Kohli, Dhoni, Ravi Shastri and Rohit Sharma before making the decision.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dhawan, Bhuvaneshwar, and Bumrah were included in the Grade A+ contract. What’s surprising is, MS Dhoni opted himself out of the category and also asked for pay cut as he is not playing all formats of the game. And this is why he is not included in A+ players but in Grade A.

It’s not the first time something like this has happened. Rahul Dravid had made the BCCI reduce his prize money, for coaching India in their triumphant ICC Under-19 World Cup journey. Dravid was keen on receiving the same amount as the rest of the coaching staff and reduced his initial Rs. 50 Lakh by Rs. 25 Lakh.

Coming to the salaries, A+ players get Rs 7 crore per year, A players get Rs 5 crore per year, B players get Rs 3 crore and C players get Rs 1 crore per year. This was revealed by BCCI chairman Vinod Rai when the new contracts were announced.

• The A category features MSD, Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Wridhhiman Saha.
• The B category includes KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma and Dinesh Karthik.
• The players in the C Category are Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel and Jayant Yadav.

Well done Dhoni. What do you say?

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