How BCCI Central Contracts Are Graded, and What Each Grade Pays

The Board of Control for Cricket in India, or BCCI, places its senior players on annual central contracts. Each contract sits in a grade, and the grade sets a fixed yearly retainer. The retainer is separate from match fees and performance-linked payments.

The cycle covered here runs from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. It covers the senior men's team and the senior women's team, and it is the cycle described here.

Who Is Covered, and When the Cycle Runs

The BCCI publishes one list for the senior men's team and a separate list for the senior women's team. Business Today gives the contract period as 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026. Business Today says the BCCI announced the men's contracts in February 2026.

Business Today says players receive match fees and can earn performance-based incentives, and that these are separate from the retainer.

The grade sets the fixed annual retainer, so a change of grade changes that amount. Business Today says the BCCI decides grades on performances, contribution to Indian cricket and involvement across formats.

What Changed in 2025-26: The A+ Grade Is Gone

The 2025-26 list has three active tiers, and the A+ grade is no longer among them. WION reports that the BCCI has removed the category from the contract system, and Business Today describes it as phased out.

The clearest move involved Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Business Today says both were in the top A+ category in the previous cycle, alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Both are now in Grade B.

All India Radio records that both have retired from Test and T20I cricket. WION links their demotion to the Test retirement and says both now play only in the one-day format. Business Today says both remain available for ODIs, and that the move reflects a change in their international roles.

Shubman Gill is in Grade A. WION says he was placed in that grade for the first time, as the new Test and ODI captain. Outlook India says he had already been promoted to Grade A in the previous retainership, so the two reports differ on that point.

Other changes were smaller. Outlook India says Jemimah Rodrigues moved up to Grade A after the 2025 Women's World Cup semi-final, and that Sneh Rana was promoted to Grade B. WION says Rana moved up from Grade C.

Who Is in Each Grade for 2025-26

The men's list has 30 players. Grade A has three: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Grade B has 11: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer.

Grade C has 16: Axar Patel, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan and Ravi Bishnoi.

WION names five men who are not on the list: Sarfaraz Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Rajat Patidar and Mukesh Kumar. It also says Sai Sudharsan is the only new men's contract recipient.

The women's list has 21 players. Grade A has four: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma. Grade B has four: Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Sneh Rana and Renuka Thakur. Grade C has 13, including Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Pratika Rawal, Uma Chetry, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol and Kashvee Gautam.

WION says several women received central contracts for the first time, including Pratika Rawal, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Kashvee Gautam, G Kamalini, Vaishnavi Sharma and Tejal Hasabnis. It names Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar and Titas Sadhu as among the players who have missed out on contracts this season.

What Each Grade Pays, and Where Reports Differ

Business Today gives the men's retainers as ₹5 crore a year for Grade A, ₹3 crore for Grade B and ₹1 crore for Grade C. It describes them as fixed annual amounts, separate from match fees.

Outlook India reports the men's figures differently. It says the BCCI withheld the specific retainer figures for the three remaining categories, and it presents the same ₹5 crore, ₹3 crore and ₹1 crore figures as values for earlier seasons. The two reports therefore disagree on whether the 2025-26 men's amounts have been published.

Outlook India is the only source that gives women's retainers: ₹50 lakh for Grade A, ₹30 lakh for Grade B and ₹10 lakh for Grade C, paid annually. Those figures have not been confirmed elsewhere. On the reported numbers, each women's grade pays one-tenth of the men's grade with the same letter.

Business Today says players receive match fees on top of the retainers and can earn performance-based incentives. None of the sources give a figure for either.

The 2025-26 list has three active tiers, and the A+ grade is no longer among them.

How Grades Are Reassessed After 30 September 2026

The cycle ended on 30 September 2026. Business Today reported that the BCCI would reassess player grades for the next season, based on performances, availability and roles across formats.

Business Today gives three factors for the original placement: performances, contribution to Indian cricket and involvement across formats. For the reassessment it lists performances, availability and roles across formats.

The grades in this explainer apply to the 2025-26 cycle only. The lists for the next season are not covered here.

How the Men's and Women's Lists Compare

The two lists differ in size and in how their top tiers are filled. The men's list has 30 names across three grades, and its largest group is Grade C, with 16 players. The women's list has 21 names, and its top tier holds four players instead of three.

Grade B is the middle tier on both lists. It holds 11 men and four women. The women's Grade B has the same number of players as its Grade A.

The retainer figures come from different sourcing. The men's amounts appear in Business Today, and Outlook India reports them as earlier-season figures. The women's amounts appear only in Outlook India. Both lists cover the same cycle, from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026.