The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has officially announced its Annual Central Contracts List for the 2025–26 season, covering both senior men’s and women’s cricket teams. The new retainership structure reflects recent trends in player participation and performance, and marks a notable reshaping of the contract hierarchy.
🔄 Key Highlights
- Former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been moved to Grade B contracts after previously featuring in the top tier. Their current availability mainly in the ODI format influenced the grading decision.
- The A+ category has been removed in this cycle, with new contract tiers now consisting of Grade A (top performers), Grade B and Grade C.
- Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have been confirmed as the core Grade A contracted players, underscoring their importance across formats.
🧾 BCCI Central Contracts 2025-26 – Full List
⭐ Grade A
These players are recognised as primary contributors across formats:
- Shubman Gill
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Ravindra Jadeja
(Grade A reflects key roles and consistent performance at the highest level.)
🟡 Grade B
This category includes senior players with significant roles, including ODI specialists and versatile performers:
- Rohit Sharma
- Virat Kohli
- Washington Sundar
- KL Rahul
- Hardik Pandya
- Mohammed Siraj
- Rishabh Pant
- Kuldeep Yadav
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Shreyas Iyer
(Grade B players feature heavily in limited-overs formats and remain crucial to India’s plans.)
🔵 Grade C
The largest group captures developing talent and those on the fringes of regular selection:
- Axar Patel
- Tilak Varma
- Rinku Singh
- Shivam Dube
- Sanju Samson
- Arshdeep Singh
- Prasidh Krishna
- Akash Deep
- Dhruv Jurel
- Harshit Rana
- Varun Chakravarthy
- Nitish Kumar Reddy
- Abhishek Sharma
- Sai Sudarshan
- Ravi Bishnoi
- Ruturaj Gaikwad
(Grade C reflects players in broader contention and those earning retainers based on recent performances.)
🧑🦰 Women’s Team Contracts 2025-26
Women cricketers have also been awarded central contracts in the new structure:
⭐ Grade A
- Harmanpreet Kaur
- Smriti Mandhana
- Jemimah Rodrigues
- Deepti Sharma
🟡 Grade B
- Renuka Thakur
- Shafali Verma
- Richa Ghosh
- Sneh Rana
🔵 Grade C
- Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma, Tejal Hasabnis
(Grade C includes a strong pool of women cricketers helping build depth for the future.)
📈 What This Means
The BCCI’s contract list is issued annually and determines players’ retainer earnings and access to elite facilities, medical support and match fees. The revamp highlights a performance-based approach, where recent form, multi-format involvement and leadership roles influence contract positioning.
The removal of the A+ bracket marks a significant structural shift, aligning retention levels more closely with current team roles rather than past legacy. This also means some veterans who previously held top-tier retainership are redistributed into the new Grade B category.
📌 Disclaimer
This contract list is based on verified reports and official announcements from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the 2025-26 season. The publication may be updated if the BCCI releases further official details or amendments.
