5 Cricketers who were demoted in BCCI's latest central contract

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are yet to officially announce the latest annual central contracts. The BCCI central contract included four categories- A+, A, B, and C. The grade A+ category is superior to all where the players receive INR 7 crore, Grade A players get INR 5 Cr while the players in grades B and C are paid three and one crore respectively.

While the likes of batting megastar Virat Kohli, India’s newly appointed all-format captain Rohit Sharma and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah featuring in the A+ category was a no-brainer given the fact that they play all three formats of the game, there have been a few players who have been demoted in this category. Without further ado, here’s a look at five of them with a couple of them being surprise names in the list.

Players who were demoted in BCCI in central contracts:

1. Ajinkya Rahane

The last few months have indeed been very tough for Ajinkya Rahane. He was sacked from India’s Test vice-captaincy prior to the South Africa series in December and also had a forgettable tour managing just 136 runs averaging 22.66 in the three-match series including a half-century.

Due to his underwhelming returns after a match-winning century at the Boxing Day Test match in MCG in December 2020, the selectors decided to drop Rahane from the upcoming Sri Lanka Test series. Therefore, it also earned him a demotion in the BCCI Central Contracts.

The senior batter who was in the A category last year is now in B category and he would be hoping to make a spectacular comeback with some exceptional performances in the ongoing Ranji Trophy where he has already scored a century and a half-century in three innings for Mumbai.

2. Cheteshwar Pujara

This was pretty much on the cards. Cheteshwar Pujara has hardly made an impact as India’s number three Test batter for a long time. While he did score a vital fifty surviving a bouncer barrage from the Australian pacers at the historic Gabba Test in January last year, Pujara could not make it matter during the ICC World Test Championship final in New Zealand and the subsequent England Test series.

After a poor outing in the three-match Test series against South Africa where he finished with 124 runs at an average of 20.66 including a solitary half-century, the selectors thought they had enough and excluded him from the two-match home series against Sri Lanka starting March 4. Due to that, the Saurashtra cricketer who had a Grade A contract in 2021 now finds himself in the B category.

The Test specialist would now be making amends in the Ranji Trophy to find his place in the Indian squad. Nonetheless, Pujara has only managed one half-century in three innings for the defending champions Saurashtra.

3. Wriddhiman Saha

Just like Ajinkya Rahane, another senior cricketer Wriddhiman Saha has been having a tough time in the last few weeks as he came out with sensational statement regarding his conversations/messages with the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and head coach Rahul Dravid post the Sri Lanka Test series snub. The Bengal stumper had scored a match-saving 61 in the Kanpur Test against New Zealand in November but, that was just not enough to cement his place in the Test side permanently.

The 37-year old did make his presence felt with some acrobatic performances behind the stumps. However, his batting was not up to the mark. His last Test century had come way back in March 2017 during the home Test series against Australia in Ranchi. The Bengal cricketer who was in Grade B last year is now in the C category.

With Wriddhiman Saha backing out from this year’s Ranji Trophy citing personal reasons, his comeback in the longest format appears to be a foregone conclusion with Rishabh Pant donning the gloves and Karnataka’s KS Bharat being the second-choice wicketkeeper.

4. Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan used to be India’s all-format player not too long ago ever since he made his debut in the summer of 2013. It remains to be noted that the elegant opener has only been in the scheme of things for One Day Internationals in the last 12 months barring the away T20I series against Sri Lanka where he was the stand-in captain.

Having been out of favor in red-ball cricket from 2018 and not getting a chance in the T20I squad due to the emergence of specialist players in the shortest format in the last few months, Dhawan who was in Grade A last year has seen a drastic fall and is now in the C category this time around.

The Delhi cricketer would now be hoping to make the most of his opportunities in IPL 2022 representing Punjab Kings to put the selectors on notice heading into this year’s T20 World Cup 2022 down under.

5. Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya was at the peak of his career before lower back surgery in October 2019 made him a bit cautious on the cricket field thereafter. The younger Pandya has not been able to bowl and has only been included in the team as a specialist middle-order batter since then. He had also made his last Test appearance way back in August 2018.

The stylish all-rounder has not been seen in action after the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in the UAE as he is busy regaining his full fitness so that he can be back bowling. Meanwhile, the Mumbai cricketer who was in Grade A last year has now been demoted to Grade C in the BCCI central contracts.

Leading the new franchise Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022, Hardik Pandya would now be eager to make all-round contributions eyeing this year’s T20 World Cup in Australia where he has a tough competitor in India’s new batting all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer.