Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill, the two exceptional batters of the Indian team are expected to be promoted to the BCCI’s list of centrally-contracted cricketers as compensation for their outstanding recent performances. When the new contracts are announced later this month on December 21, both Yadav and Gill belonged to Category C. Now they are likely to move up to Category B.
Hardik Pandya, who is expected to take over as India’s next T20I captain, will likely move up to the highest category, category A, which includes the players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Suryakumar Yadav was in Group C before, but his performance over the past year, especially in the T20 World Cup and Asia Cup, justifies moving him up to Group B, if not Group A. he is currently holding the top spot in the ICC T20I rankings and is a serious candidate for the ODI team.
However, while Suryakumar Yadav and Gill are in line for promotions, a few experienced cricketers who have done well for India in the past are now out of favor and likely to lose their contracts. Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were regulars of the Indian test team under the leadership of MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are now facing difficulty re-joining the team.
Despite being downgraded from Category B to C, Rahane and Ishant are in danger of being completely removed from the list of central contracts. Rahane and Ishant last competed in a Test match for India in November 2021 and January of this year respectively against South Africa.
The players in Category A will receive the highest pay grade, with an annual salary of 7 crores. Players in Category B are compensated with 5 crores. Likewise, the players in Category C make 3 crores annually. Ishan Kishan, who scored an outstanding double-century against Bangladesh in the ODI series, will likely to move up in the C category.
Scoring over 1500 runs in 41 matches this year and 1164 of which come from T20 internationals, Suryakumar Yadav became India’s player of the year. On the other hand, Gill, coming after injury setbacks, has halted his career in Indian cricket after his game-changing 91 against Australia in the Gabba Test. Gill has scored 743 runs in 22 matches this year, including 5 half-centuries and a first-ever hundred.
