Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar praised the BCCI on rewarding players for their hardwork after the board announced the Annual Central Contracts on Wednesday. India captain Rohit Sharma and star batter Virat Kohli expectedly retained their place in the top bracket, with Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah also included in the Grade A+ category. However, the biggest takeaway from the new central contracts was the decision to axe the out-of-favour duo of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer.
Both Kishan and Iyer didn’t turn up for their respective state teams for Ranji Trophy games, despite clear directives from the board. Both the players are currently not part of the squad for the ongoing Test series against England.
Taking to social media, Manjrekar praised the BCCI for rewarding players who have the hunger to represent India and are not afraid of facing the “acid test” at international level.
“Well done to @BCCI for rewarding players who want to play the tough cricket and only for one reason…to face the ‘acid test’ as cricketers,” Manjrekar posted on X.
Well done to @BCCI for rewarding players who want to play the tough cricket and only for one reason…to face the ‘acid test’ as cricketers.
” Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 28, 2024
Kishan did not turn up for Jharkhand throughout the team’s campaign in Ranji Trophy despite not being on national duty since leaving from the tour of South Africa in December citing personal reasons. He has instead focussed on preparing for the IPL next month.
Iyer, on the other hand, did not make himself available for Mumbai’s Ranji quarterfinal against Baroda after being excluded from the Indian team after the second Test against England. He, however, has been picked for the Ranji semifinals starting March 2.
Cricketers are normally paid Rs 7 crore per annum in A plus bracket, Rs 5 crore in A, Rs 3 crore in B and Rs one crore in C category, over and above their match fees.
Central contracts for 2023-24: Grade A : Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A+: R Ashwin, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya.
Grade B: Surya Kumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Grade C: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shardul Thakur, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Jitesh Sharma, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan and Rajat Patidar.
Fast bowling contracts: Akash Deep, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa.
(With PTI Inputs)
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