The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on April 15 (Thursday) announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the period from October 2020 to September 2021. Incidentally, there are four grades – A+, A, B, and C with an annual salary of ₹7 crores, ₹5 crores, ₹3 crores, and ₹1 crore respectively.
Meanwhile, there are three cricketers in Grade A+, 10 cricketers in Grade A, 5 in Grade B, and 10 cricketers in Grade C. Meanwhile, out-of-form spinner Kuldeep Yadav has slipped from Grade A (5 cr) to Grade C (1 cr) while his partner in spin Yuzvendra Chahal has dropped from Grade B to Grade C. Senior fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has mostly struggled with injuries has slipped from Grade A to B.
Team India captain Virat Kohli, limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah have been awarded Grade A+ category where they will earn ₹7 crores. On the other hand, Manish Pandey, who has struggled to find a place has been removed from the contract list along while young fast bowler T Natarajan, who made his debut across all the formats didn’t find a place in the BCCI contract.
Here are the payment structures of Team India cricketers as per the new BCCI contract:
Team India (Senior Men)
| Period | Grade A + | Grade A | Grade B | Grade C |
| Oct 2020 to Sept 2021 | INR 7 Cr | INR 5 Cr | INR 3 Cr | INR 1 Cr |
Distribution of Annual Player Contracts Team India (Senior Men)
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| A+ | 1 | Mr. Virat Kohli |
| 2 | Mr. Rohit Sharma | |
| 3 | Mr. Jasprit Bumrah | |
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| A | 1 | Mr. Ravichandran Ashwin |
| 2 | Mr. Ravindra Jadeja | |
| 3 | Mr. Cheteshwar Pujara | |
| 4 | Mr. Ajinkya Rahane | |
| 5 | Mr. Shikhar Dhawan | |
| 6 | Mr. K L Rahul | |
| 7 | Mr. Mohd. Shami | |
| 8 | Mr Ishant Sharma | |
| 9 | Mr Rishabh Pant | |
| 10 | Mr Hardik Pandya | |
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| B | 1 | Mr. Wriddhiman Saha |
| 2 | Mr. Umesh Yadav | |
| 3 | Mr. Bhuvneshwar Kumar | |
| 4 | Mr. Shardul Thakur | |
| 5 | Mr. Mayank Agarwal | |
| Grade | S.No. | Athletes |
| C | 1 | Mr. Kuldeep Yadav |
| 2 | Mr. Navdeep Saini | |
| 3 | Mr. Deepak Chahar | |
| 4 | Mr. Shubhman Gill | |
| 5 | Mr. Hanuma Vihari | |
| 6 | Mr. Axar Patel | |
| 7 | Mr. Shreyas Iyer | |
| 8 | Mr. Washington Sundar | |
| 9 | Mr. Yuzvendra Chahal | |
| 10 | Mr. Md. Siraj | |
more to follow…