There is one certain name that's going to be missing from the new central contracts list
Shreyas Iyer’s ascension in Indian cricket has been rapid in the last few months. The 30-year-old, after years of struggling with injuries and being dropped from the national team on multiple occasions, has finally found his footing.
After being picked in the playing XI for the first ODI against England due to an injury to Virat Kohli, Shreyas quickly made his mark and cemented his place in the team with scores of 59, 44 and 79.
He went from strength to strength in the Champions Trophy by scoring 243 runs from five matches at an average of 48, which included crucial scores of 45 and 48 in the semifinal and final respectively as India clinched their third Champions Trophy.
According to a report by ANI, these performances could see the Mumbai batter return to the list of BCCI central contracts which are to be announced very soon.
Shreyas was missing from the 2023-24 central contracts despite playing 15 ODIs, four Tests and two T20Is in that season. A player has to play either three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is during a particular calendar year to be considered for the central contracts next season. Jharkhand’s keeper-batter Ishan Kishan was also not considered last season.
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A+ category has a retainership fee of INR 7 crore, while A category a player gets INR 5 crore while cricketers in Grade B and C will be paid INR 3 crore and INR 1 crore respectively.
According to his Mumbai teammates, Shreyas’ improved performances have been spurred on by the central contract snub. The right-hander has led Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in December last year a few months after he had lifted Kolkata Knight Riders to the Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
He has also begun the ongoing IPL 2025 with a bang, scoring 97 not out off 41 balls for Punjab Kings against Gujarat Titans.
Last season, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were in the A+ category while Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya were in the A Category.
Ashwin’s name certainly will not be on the new list after the offspinner announced his international retirement during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Last season, the BCCI had named five players in Grade B and 15 players in Grade C categories.
