Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli retained in BCCI A+ category; Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan make comeback

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday released its central contract list for the 2024-25 season, marking several notable inclusions and exclusions.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retained their places in the A+ category, which comes with a Rs 7 crore annual retainership. Along with them, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah remain in this prestigious category, continuing their dominance in India’s elite cricket roster.

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BCCI announces annual player retainership 2024-25 - Team India (Senior Men)#TeamIndia

Details 🔽https://t.co/lMjl2Ici3P pic.twitter.com/CsJHaLSeho

— BCCI (@BCCI) April 21, 2025

One of the biggest developments in the new list is the return of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan, who were dropped last year. Iyer, who was excluded due to his perceived neglect of domestic cricket in favor of IPL, makes a comeback in the B category with a Rs three crore retainer.

Kishan, who faced similar exclusion, returns to the C category with an annual remuneration of Rs one crore.

The BCCI has also made changes to Category A, with Rishabh Pant moving back into the category after his demotion last season due to recovery from a serious accident. He replaces Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired earlier this year.

Pant now joins the likes of Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, and Mohammed Shami in this prestigious group, which offers a Rs five crore retainer.

Category C sees the largest number of players, including newcomers Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Abhishek Sharma, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Along with them, established players like Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Sanju Samson find themselves in this group, which offers an annual retainership of Rs one crore.

The contract list reflects the continued growth and development of India’s cricketing talent, with several emerging players being brought into the fold alongside established stars.

The announcement also comes on the back of a remarkable IPL achievement by Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai Indians captain surpassed Virat Kohli for the most ‘Player of the Match’ awards in IPL history after his impressive performance in the ongoing season.

BCCI Central Contracts List (2024-25):

A+ Category: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

A Category: Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant

B Category: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer

C Category: Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana.