Ravi Shastri believes that Cheteshwar Pujara should be in the top bracket of central contracts

India’s head coach and former cricketer Ravi Shastri believes that the right-handed Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara must be given the nod to remain in the top bracket of the new remuneration structure.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Committee of Administrators are planning to thrash out the revised central contracts based on new remuneration structure. Pujara is currently in Grade-A alongside former skipper MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane and another Test specialist Murali Vijay.

During a panel discussion with the well-renowned journalist Rajdeep Sardesai on his book ‘Democracy XI’, Shastri said: “It is very important that someone like Cheteshwar Pujara is kept in the top bracket of a central contract.”

Shastri was a key-figure in the wage discussion:

Shastri alongside Virat and Dhoni had met the chief of CoA, Vinod Rai to discuss the wages alongside the compensation package with Future Tours & Programme (FTP) calendar. The discussions which surround the BCCI suggest that the pay would be done on the number of International matches a player has played in a calendar year.

This new system might hit the likes of Pujara, Vijay and Dhoni hard as they are a specialist in either the long-format of the game or the limited-overs format.

Pujara, is one of India’s coolest head in the Test format, with ability best next to none. Apart from Tests, Pujara does not play the other formats, including the cash-rich Indian Premier League.

Dhoni-Kohli’s relationship is one of India’s strengths:

Further, Shastri dwelled on the relationship between the present skipper Kohli and the former skipper Dhoni, which has been one of India’s pillars of strength.

“I have never seen Dhoni lose his cool. If he has, it must have been for 10 seconds. Kohli is still work in progress but he will certainly mature. I hear a lot of stories about their relationship, but all those are not true. I have seen how much mutual respect the two have for each other,” Shastri said in the presence of 1983 World-Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.