&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "BCCI announces central contracts for 2025-26, demotes Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma to Grade B")
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the list of central contracts for the 2025-26 season, covering the period from Oct 1, 2025 to Sept 30, 2026. In the men’s list, the biggest change is that senior players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have moved down to Grade B. This comes after their retirement from Test cricket last year, as they now play only in the one-day format. India’s new Test and ODI captain, Shubman Gill, has been promoted to the top category, Grade A, for the first time, joining Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. The BCCI has also removed the Grade A+ category from the contract system.
Sai Sudharsan is the only new player to receive a men’s central contract this season. However, Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar have not been given contracts this year.
Whereas, in the women’s contracts, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma remain in Grade A. Jemimah Rodrigues has been promoted after an excellent year, including a strong performance in India’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 title win. Sneh Rana has also moved up, from Grade C to Grade B.
Several women players have received central contracts for the first time, including Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma and Tejal Hasabnis.
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Meanwhile, Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar and Titas Sadhu are among the players who have missed out on contracts this season.
Men's Contracts
- Grade A - Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja
- Grade B - Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer
- Grade C - Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan and Ravi Bishnoi
Women's Contracts
- Grade A - Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma
- Grade B - Renuka Thakur, Sneh Rana, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh
- Grade C - Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma and Tejal Hasabnis
