BCCI Announces Annual Contracts for 2023-24 Season: Iyer and Kishan Excluded, New Fast Bowling Contracts Introduced

Mumbai:  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has unveiled the list of centrally contracted players for the upcoming 2023-24 season. The announcement, made on Wednesday, brings forth some notable changes, including the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan from the 30-member list.

KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Mohammed Siraj have seen an elevation to Grade A, while Rishabh Pant, recovering from a road accident, finds himself in Grade B. The BCCI clarified in a media release that Iyer and Kishan were not considered for annual contracts this time, emphasizing the importance of players participating in domestic cricket during non-national team representation periods.

Established players like Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, and Mohammed Shami have retained their Grade A contracts, and Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja remain in the A+ category.

Axar Patel, previously in Grade A, has moved to Grade B, while Kuldeep Yadav has been promoted from Grade C to B. Yashasvi Jaiswal joins Grade B as a newly contracted player, and Suryakumar Yadav is the sole player from the previous season to retain his Grade B status.

Cheteshwar Pujara, however, does not secure a contract this season after being in Grade B in the previous one.

A notable addition is the introduction of a new category – Fast Bowling contracts. Players like Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal, and Vidwath Kaverappa have been included in this specialized category.

The Grade C category sees an increase from 11 to 15 players, with 10 new inclusions. Players such as Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, and Rajat Patidar enter this category. Meanwhile, some players like Shardul Thakur, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, and KS Bharat retain their Grade C contracts, whereas others like Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Hooda, and Yuzvendra Chahal have been excluded.

The annual contracts for the 2023-24 season will be effective from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Players who meet specific criteria, such as featuring in a minimum number of Tests, ODIs, or T20Is within this period, will be automatically included in the Grade C category on a pro-rata basis.