The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will declare its retainership for the year in April. There are some major changes lined up in the new contracts, with the return of Shreyas Iyer being one of them. The captain of the Punjab Kings was left out of the list last year following several controversies but is likely to be included after a dramatic domestic and international season.
Shreyas Iyer was among India’s perennial performers in the Champions Trophy 2025. He made decisive knocks throughout the tournament in guiding India to successive 50-over ICC titles. But first, what are the BCCI annual retainerships and how does it operate?
BCCI central contracts represent an every year retainership system classifying and incentivizing senior male cricketers with respect to performance and commitment towards the Indian cricketing space. The individuals are classified in the four grades of A+, A, B, and C. In 30 athletes in all, were conferred central contracts last year by the Indian board.
The BCCI contract players are provided for by the board. For instance, any player on a central contract can have their recovery done at the National Cricket Academy without cost. They are also provided with travel allowances and the benefit of the state-of-the-art training facility at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. The core contract is awarded to players who have either played 3 Test matches or 8 ODIs or 10 T20Is. Meeting any of the conditions makes you a retainership eligible.
How Much Money do BCCI Centrally Contracted Players Make?
A+: Rs. 7 crore
A:Rs. 5 crore
B: Rs. 3 crore
C:Rs. 1 crore
Fees structure for Team India Players
Test: Rs. 15 lakh
ODI: Rs. 6 lakh
T20I: Rs. 3 lakh
BCCI Contracts for 2023-24 Season
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: Suryakumar 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, Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel.
