There were some big names axed from the central contracts list.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) young spinner Shreyanka Patil was on Monday rewarded with a BCCI central contract along with four other newcomers.
The contracts, for the time period of October 1st, 2024 to September 30th, 2025, have Indian captain and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana along with star allrounder Deepti Sharma in the Grade A category.
Meanwhile, middle-order batter Harleen Deol was among the key omissions on the list alongside out-of-favour spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Opening batter Sabbineni Meghana, pacer Meghna Singh and left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani were also absent from the new list.
Deol has featured in India’s most recent ODI series against Ireland and scored 89 in the second match of the series.
However, opening batter Shafali Verma kept her place in the Grade B category despite being axed from the national team since the series against New Zealand in October last year. Shafali made a strong case for a return, smashing 527 runs at a strike rate of 152 and an average of 75 for Delhi in the List-A competition followed by a stunning return of 388 runs for India ‘A’ in the Senior Women’s One-Day Challenger Trophy.
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She followed it up with a tally of 309 runs from nine matches in the Women’s Premier League 2025, which helped Delhi Capitals reach a third consecutive final.
Surprisingly, Pratika Rawal who has emerged as Shafali’s strong competitor for the opening spot, didn’t get a central contract. Rawal, who made her debut against West Indies in December last year made scores of 40, 76, 18, 89, 67, and 154 in her first six matches.
The Grade B category remained more or less the same with Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali.
It was the Grade C category that saw the most changes with the likes of Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, and Uma Chetry all being included in the new list.
Anjali Sarvani, who is among the players who lost contracts, last played for India in 2023. Another pacer Titas Sadhu, who made her debut against Australia in December, has received a central contract.
Currently, women’s team players in Grade A receive INR 50 lakh per year while players in Grade B earn INR 30 lakh followed by INR 10 lakh for Grade C.
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