Indian regular bowlers in all the formats of cricket, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been named in the newly introduced A+ category of contracts introduced by BCCI for the season 2017-2018. The other players in this category are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan who will earn INR 7 crore as their annual contract for the period September 2017 to October 2018.

BCCI also renewed the contracts of many cricketers. It is understandable that another key bowler Mohammed Shami has not allotted any contract by the Board of Control for Cricket in India due to the reports that have emerged related to his personal life.  Though Shami’s name was included in the initial list, but his name was withheld in the last moment, but his name probably be included in the later stage, if the BCCI deems fit.

The A category of contract players consist of the Test players like Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, MuraliVijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Chateshwar Pujara, and Wriddhiman Saha. Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya were kept in the Group B, having been in the Category C in the previous season. Kuldeep Yadav is the newsly listed player in the Group B. Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra are in the list of the excluded cricketers.

According to the newly introduced Grade A+ contract, BCCI increased the pay hike for the remaining grades. The players under the Grade A who used to INR 2 crore will now earn INR 5 crore per annum. Grade B players who used to earn 1 crore per annum will now earn INR 3 crore. The Grade C players who used to earn INR 50 lakhs will now earn INR 1 crore.

The latest contract released a few months after the Committee of Administrators (CoA) met Indian skipper Virat Kohli, former skipper MS Dhoni and head coach Ravi Shastri in the presence of BCCI CEO.

Women’s cricket:

There have been changes in the women’s cricket as well. For the women cricketers, the BCCI has introduced a new category this time – Grade C. The cricketers under this category will now earn INR 10 lakhs, the Grade B players who used to earn INR 10 lakhs will now earn INR 30 lakhs.

List of Women Cricket – Grade A Players – Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur Smriti Mandhana . Smriti Mandhana is the new entrant.

Grade B – Poonam Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma.

Grade C – Mansi Joshi, Anuja Patil, Mona Meshram, Nuzhat Parveen, Sushma Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar and Taniya Bhatia.

Domestic cricket:

The Board of Control for Cricket in Inda has also revised the fee structure for the domestic cricket with the new pay scale. According to the new pay scale, the hike is more than 200 per cent in each category. According to the new structure, the senior domestic cricketers in the playing eleven will receive INR 35,000 per match while those in the reserves will receive INR 17,500.

BCCI has done similar changes in the women domestic circuit as well. Players in the playing eleven will receive INR 12,500 per match while the reserved ones will earn half the amount. BCCI also announced pay scales for the players under the age levels of Under 23, Under 19, and Under 16. For a T20 match, the domestic players in all the categories will earn half the price as their respective categories.