Iyer, Kishan return as BCCI announces central contracts for 2025-26
What's the story
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced its central contract list for the 2025/26 season.
Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, and Harshit Rana are among the players to receive contracts for the first time.
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have returned to the list after missing out on central contracts last season.
The former has been sensational in particular over the last few months.
Iyer
Shreyas Iyer's remarkable comeback and consistent performance
Despite being dropped from central contracts last year, Iyer has made a remarkable comeback.
He led Kolkata Knight Riders to the 2024 IPL title as captain, and also won the Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup, and SMAT in domestic cricket.
This year, he returned to the ODI set-up during the England series and became India's top run-getter in ICC Champions Trophy title win with 243 runs across five matches including two fifties.
Player spotlight
Abhishek Sharma: Grade C inclusion
Abhishek Sharma, a left-handed batter from Punjab, has been placed in Grade C of the central contracts.
He has been opening for India in T20Is and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.
This grade ensures an annual retainership of ₹1 crore.
As per BCCI's standard policy, "athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis."
Additional players
First-time recipients of BCCI's central contracts
The likes of Dhruv Jurel, Sarafraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Harshit Rana are the other first-time recipients of BCCI's central contracts.
As mentioned, Kishan has also returned to the list after missing out on the 2024-25 contract. However, he has not played a single international game since November 2023.
Meanwhile, the top-tier A+ category sees veterans Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja unchanged in their gradings.
Retention
Rohit, Virat, Jadeja's retention in A+ grade
It must be noted that Rohit, Virat, and Jadeja have retired from T20Is. However, they still continue their stint in the A+ category.
The trio was instrumental in India's recent white-ball title wins (2024 T20 WC and 2025 CT).
Meanwhile, Bumrah, arguably the best all-format bowler going around, is the other player in the A+ list.
While India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is placed in Grade B, Rishabh Pant has been promoted from category B to A.
Categories
List of players and grade categories
Notably, the BCCI central contracts are divided into four grades: Grade A+ (₹7 crore per annum), Grade A (₹5 crore per annum), Grade B (₹3 crore per annum), and Grade C (₹1 crore per annum).
Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
Grade A: Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant.
Grade B: Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Axar Patel.
OUT: Shardul Thakur, Jitesh Sharma, KS Bharath, Avesh Khan.
Information
Here are the players placed in Grade C
Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson, Mukesh Kumar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi, Shivam Dube, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar.