Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma demoted from A+ to B in BCCI contracts shake-up; only three cricketers in Grade A pay

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who were in the A+ category have been demoted to the B category in the central annual contracts list for the 2025-26 period.

Updated on: Feb 09, 2026 8:25 PM IST

Share via

Copy link

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the two stalwarts of Indian cricket, have been demoted from the A+ category to the B category in the annual central contracts list for the 2025-26 period. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) made the official announcement on Monday, restructuring the men’s central contracts into three categories — A, B and C — with the A+ bracket scrapped altogether.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma demoted from A+ category to the B category (Star Sports India)

Kohli and Rohit missing out on the top tier does not come as a surprise, given the BCCI’s long-standing policy of reserving the highest category for players who feature across all three formats. With both veterans having stepped away from T20Is, their demotion was largely expected.

As a result, only three players have been placed in the top A category: Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

It is worth mentioning that both Rohit and Virat play just the one format now - ODIs, following their retirements from the T20Is and Tests. The duo have been in cracking form of late in the 50-over format, scoring runs for fun. Yes, Rohit did have a lean run in the last series against New Zealand, but one cannot look past his form in the previous two series against Australia and South Africa.

Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar goes gaga over Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Virat Kohli erupts in joy after India win U19 World Cup

Virat and Rohit are also joined by the T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav in the B category, and some of the other names in the B category are Washington Sundar, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant. There are 11 players in the B category, while the C category comprises players such as Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Axar Patel, and more.

Earlier, the BCCI’s annual retainers were divided into four grades - A+, A, B and C, operating separately from the match fees system. Under the previous structure, Grade A+ was valued at INR 7 crore per year, Grade A at INR 5 crore, Grade B at INR 3 crore, and Grade C at INR 1 crore. However, as of now, it's not known what the new payment system would be, considering the A+ category has been removed.

Here are the full men's central contracts list for the 2025-26 period:

A category: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.

B category: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer.

C category: Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Arshdeep Singh, Sanju Samson, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vishesh Roy
Vishesh Roy is a sports journalist with a strong focus on cricket. He began his career at Asian News International (ANI), where he covered a range of high-profile events, including the India Open, Legends Cricket League, the England–India Test series in Ahmedabad in 2021, and the inauguration of the Narendra Modi Stadium. During his tenure at ANI, he also reported extensively on domestic cricket, covering several Ranji Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy matches across the country. While cricket remains his primary beat, Vishesh has also reported on tennis, football and WWE. After a stint of over three years at ANI, Vishesh moved to NDTV, where he gained hands-on experience in digital-first journalism, with a particular emphasis on live blogs and real-time news reporting. He joined Hindustan Times in October 2024 and quickly established himself with a series of exclusive interviews and source-driven stories. Ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Hindustan Times was the first to report that the two-day event would be held in Saudi Arabia. In the early months of his tenure, Vishesh secured interviews with leading cricketers, including Pat Cummins, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Rashid Latif. He has also closely tracked the rise of emerging talents such as Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Priyansh Arya by speaking to their current and childhood coaches. His background in on-field reporting has helped Hindustan Times Digital break exclusive stories on major developments, including Virat Kohli’s return to the Ranji and Vijay Hazare Trophy, IPL scheduling, and the T20 World Cup controversy involving Bangladesh and Pakistan.Read More