Full list of BCCI's contracted players for 2017

Mumbai, March 22: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today (March 22) announced annual players' contracts, doubling the retainer amounts across all 3 categories. A total of 32 cricketers have been given central contracts.

2015-16 contract list

As per the new contracts issued by the Committee of Administrators (COA) on Wednesday, there are 7 cricketers in Grade A, increasing the number from 4.

While India captain Virat Kohli, former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin retained their spots in Grade A, Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara are the newcomers in the Rs 2 crore retainer section. Earlier, the retainer fee was Rs 1 crore for Grade A, Rs 50 lakh for B and Rs 25 lakh for C.

It is a big jump for Test bowing star Jadeja, who has risen from Grade C to Grade A from last season. Pujara and Vijay were in Grade A last year.

"The Committee of Administrators met earlier in the day and decided on the Annual Player Contracts for men cricketers for the period ending 30 September 2017," BCCI said in a media release while releasing the list of players in the 3 grades.

"The Annual Retainer amounts were enhanced for all the categories and Grade A players will be paid Rs 2 crores per annum, Grade B will be paid Rs 1 Crore per annum and Grade C will be paid Rs 50 lakhs per annum, which is double the amounts paid in the earlier years," it added.

The COA also decided to increase the match fees of Test cricketers to Rs 15 lakh, ODI to Rs 6 lakh and T20I to Rs 3 lakh.

"The Match Fee enhancement for men cricketers will be effective from October 1st 2016 onwards and Rs 15 lakhs per Test, Rs 6 lakhs per ODI and Rs 3 lakhs for T20 International will be paid," BCCI stated.

Left-hander Suresh Raina, who was in Grade B last time, has no contract this time. Veteran offspinner Harbhajan Singh has been omitted. Senior all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has returned, with a Grade B contract.

Sandhya Rajesh Sawant, wife of Late Rajesh Sawant who unfortunately passed away while he was on official assignment with the India Under 19 team, was handed a cheque of Rs 15 lakhs, in recognition of his services to Indian Cricket, BCCI said.

The list of centrally contracted players by the BCCI

Grade A (Rs 2 crore) - 7 cricketers

1. Virat Kohli, 2. MS Dhoni, 3. Ravichandran Ashwin, 4. Ajinkya Rahane, 5. Cheteshwar Pujara, 6. Ravindra Jadeja, 7. Murali Vijay.

In - Pujara, Jadeja, Vijay. Out - None

Grade B (Rs 1 crore) - 9

1. Rohit Sharma, 2. KL Rahul, 3. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 4. Mohammed Shami, 5. Ishant Sharma, 6. Umesh Yadav, 7. Wriddhiman Saha, 8. Jasprit Bumrah, 9. Yuvraj Singh.

In - Rahul (promoted from Grade C), Bumrah, Yuvraj, Saha (promoted from Grade C). Out - Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shikhar Dhawan (demoted to Grade C), Vijay (promoted to Grade A), Pujara (promoted to Grade A)

Grade C (Rs 50 lakh) - 16

1. Shikhar Dhawan, 2. Ambati Rayudu, 3. Amit Mishra, 4. Manish Pandey, 5. Axar Patel, 6. Karun Nair, 7. Hardik Pandya, 8. Ashish Nehra, 9. Kedar Jadhav, 10. Yuzvendra Chahal, 11. Parthiv Patel, 12. Jayant Yadav, 13. Mandeep Singh, 14. Dhawal Kulkarni, 15. Shardul Thakur, 16. Rishabh Pant.

In - Shikhar, Rayudu, Manish, Karun, Hardik, Nehra, Kedar, Chahal, Parthiv, Jayant, Mandeep, Shardul, Rishabh. Out - Axar Patel, Stuart Binny, Saha (promoted to B), Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron, Karn Sharma, Jadeja (promoted to A), Rahul (promoted to B), Harbhajan, S Aravind.

Note: November 2015, the last time BCCI's contracted players' list was announced

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