Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel have all levelled up
No fresh additions were made to the A+ category, worth INR 7 crore (USD 930,000*), with the trio of India captain Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah retaining their contracts.
It was the Grade A slab (INR 5 crore or USD 660,000) that was trimmed severely from 10 in the last cycle to half that number. Pandya and Dhawan have dropped from Grade A to C. Pandya, who had moved from Grade B to A in the 2020-21 cycle, has suffered with fitness issues over the last two years and has not played for India since the T20 World Cup last October. Dhawan, meanwhile, has become more of a one-format player in the least year, with the selectors favouring him in 50-overs cricket and little else.
Many will wonder as to why Rahane, Pujara, Ishant were handed Grade B contracts (down from Grade A last season) when none of them were considered for the two-match home Test series against Sri Lanka starting on Friday. Chetan Sharma, India’s chairman of selectors, had pointed out that he had spoken to all three players, along with Wriddhiman Saha, about how his panel wanted to give youngsters more chances without closing the door on the seniors. Barring Saha, the other three players have featured in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy, to keep their chances of returning to the national team alive.
* All USD values are approximations where 1 USD =75 INR
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo