Suryakumar Yadav secures first BCCI central contract

India’s ace middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has found a reward for his sensational batting of late by getting included in the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) central contracts for the first time.

The 31-year-old batter, who has represented India in seven one-day internationals and 14 T20 internationals so far, secured a ‘Grade C’ contract which carries an annual remuneration of Rs 1 crore.

It was a moment to rejoice for the dashing Mumbai batter who got his national cap last year against England at home. The call came after he belted tons of runs in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier league. He didn’t get a chance to bat in his debut game but left a mark of his class in the second by hitting 57 off just 31 deliveries. In T20 internationals, Yadav has a strike rate of 165 plus, 23 points more than 142 that he has in T20 game.

Yadav is known to be a batter who can be a floater and make an impact wherever he is asked to bat. The man is also capable of changing gears at various moments of matches and if needed, can also become a part-time off-spin bowler who has 24 scalps in first-class cricket.

Kuldeep Yadav dropped from list

However, while Suryakumar met a big success by securing a BCCI contract, another Yadav – Kuldeep – found himself out of the list altogether according to ESPNCricinfo along with pacer Navdeep Saini. Yadav, who was seen as a man of potential even some time ago, has not been as effective over some time now and would consider himself lucky if he gets into India’s playing XI in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka starting in Mohali on Friday. March 4.

Ace Test cricketers Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma found themselves demoted one grade (from A to B) while opening batter Shikhar Dhawan and all-rounder Hardik Pandya found themselves going two grades down (from A to C) in the latest BCCI contracts.