After weeks of speculation – they will, sure, but when will they? – the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the annual player contracts for the Indian men’s team for the 2024-25 season this Monday. These contracts run between October 1 of last year and September 30 of 2025 – the 34 names in the four categories were revealed exactly halfway through the term – and there are no real surprises as such, though it can be argued that some deserved a better standing than has officially been accorded.
The annual contracts are an absolute must, an insurance against fickle form but also against the threat of injuries that are such an integral part of a professional sportsperson’s kitbag. The BCCI retainers have been in vogue for more than two decades now, owing their origin to the efforts undertaken by, among others, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and then skipper Sourav Ganguly. Currently, players are grouped in four categories — A+ (annual retainer of ₹7 crore), A (₹5 crore), B (₹3 crore) and C (₹1 crore). These are effectively, for convenience, annual salaries that are above and beyond match fees and prize money.
The origin
The legends of the past held the view that for the sake of financial security of the players whose shelf life is supremely limited compared to highly qualified professionals in less strenuous physical endeavours, it was imperative that the graded payment structure based on seniority and performance be introduced so that one didn’t have to take the field with added pressure riding on their shoulders. Given the riches that the BCCI is able to dip into, it was a no-brainer that players needed to be treated as human beings and assets rather than money-making entities. The fact that retainer amounts have burgeoned to the levels that they currently enjoy is further indication of the Indian board’s commitment to ensuring the physical and mental well-being of its ‘employees’, largely because of whom sponsorship and broadcast monies flow into their treasury.
This year’s list has 34 players, an increase by four from the 30 players who were part of the retainer pool for the previous season. Much of the influx is in Grade C, with several new entrants including Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar, Abhishek Sharma, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep, who have all played a great deal of international cricket in the last several months, and with no limited success.
Interestingly, also included in this category is feisty wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, whose last international appearance came nearly a year and a half back, against Australia in at T20 game in Guwahati in November 2023.
Kishan was left out of the contracts’ list last year, alongside Shreyas Iyer, the right-hand batter from Mumbai who is leading Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. While there was no official word on the two omissions, it was an open secret why they missed out.
Kishan returned home from South Africa in December 2023, midway through an all-format tour, citing the need to take a break, which is fine because that is entirely the individual’s perspective. But when he chose to ignore the BCCI’s directive to play domestic cricket while continuing to work on his cricket at a private academy in Vadodara in preparation for IPL 2024, he put the deciding authorities in an impossible position, just like Shreyas did.
Like Kishan, who refrained from representing Jharkhand in the Ranji Trophy, Shreyas briefly stayed away from Mumbai’s campaign, citing back issues even though he worked towards IPL 2024, where he eventually led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third title. He was passed fit by the sports science team at the National Cricket Academy (now the Centre of Excellence) but still chose to sit out the quarterfinal against Baroda before returning for the semifinal and lit up the final against Vidarbha with a stroke-filled 95 as Mumbai emerged triumphant for the 42nd time.
Shreyas’ indiscretion was met with the same sternness as Kishan, he too missing out on a central contract, but unlike the younger man, the 30-year-old has reintegrated nicely with the larger national group. He travelled to Sri Lanka with the One-Day International squad for Gautam Gambhir’s first assignment as Indian head coach in July-August last year – Gambhir had been the mentor at KKR when Shreyas led the franchise to the title – and has been a permanent member of the ODI set-up since. This year, in eight ODIs, he has smacked four half-centuries and registered three other scores between 44 and 48.
In a campaign full of heroes, Shreyas was a less celebrated but massive influence in India’s successful run at the Champions Trophy in Dubai in February-March.
Slotting brilliantly into the No. 4 position behind openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill and one-drop Virat Kohli, Shreyas orchestrated many a successful run-chase with his composure, his understanding of the conditions, his marginally revamped technique that has seen him play the short ball with greater assurance and authority than ever before, and with his hunger and single-minded focus. He was the fulcrum capable of — indeed, often having to do so — batting in different gears depending on the situation. Now, having set the IPL alight with his exploits at his new franchise, he has flung himself back in the fray for a place in the already brimful T20 scheme of things.
India are the defending World Cup winners and will embark on trying to extend their lease on the crown at home next year.
It is certain that Rohit and Kohli won’t be part of that defence, having announced their T20I retirements after victory in the final against South Africa last June. Shreyas has done his chances of a recall no harm whatsoever, triggering a headache of plenty for his Mumbai teammate Suryakumar Yadav, the current national 20-over captain, Gambhir and selection panel chairman Ajit Agarkar. India have had a terrific run in T20Is either side of their World Cup success and the temptation to carry on without Shreyas, who last played a T20I in December 2023, might be overwhelming. But how does one overlook form and pedigree and experience?
Talking points
Having served their penances, the slap on the wrist is now history. Kishan’s place in Grade C isn’t really a talking point, but Shreyas in Grade B? Maybe he deserved more, perhaps a slot in Grade A which has six players, though the counter to that could be that as of now, he is in the mix in only one format internationally while those in Grade A – Mohammed Siraj, K.L. Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami and Rishabh Pant (elevated from Grade B) – are two-format contenders, at the very least, if not more.
Even buying that unstated argument, what is Axar Patel doing in Grade B? Or Kuldeep Yadav, for that matter? Axar has supplanted Ravindra Jadeja as the senior left-arm spinning all-rounder in white-ball cricket (like Rohit and Kohli, Jadeja too retired from T20Is after the World Cup) and has found a near-permanent calling at No. 5 in the ODI format. He was one of the driving forces behind India’s all-conquering run in the T20 World Cup in the Americas in June and the aforementioned Champions Trophy, and the vice-captain to Suryakumar for the T20I series at home against England in January-February.
Clearly, he is being viewed not just as an influential performer but also in a potential leadership role (it might be argued that he was only named the deputy because Shubman Gill didn’t play the T20Is against England) and therefore deserved better.
So also Kuldeep, whose left-arm wrist-spin has come on by leaps and bounds in limited-overs cricket in the last couple of years and who will have an increasingly significant role to play in the longer version too, now that R. Ashwin has called time on his glorious international career.
One might be accused of splitting hairs but it is worth remembering that annual contracts are in a lot of ways indicative of what value is ascribed to players from a contribution perspective. That’s why alongside the peerless Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja continue to be viewed as pre-eminent and have been slotted in A+ even though the last three are no longer available for consideration for one of the three formats. That’s how it should be – just because they have retired from one version when they could have carried on with typical efficiency and chutzpah doesn’t detract from what they still have to offer in the other two formats.
All of them have played international cricket for a decade and a half, their contributions to Indian cricket scarcely needing reiterating.
They are worthy occupants of the highest realms; it’s not about money but respect and the acknowledgement of their stature and their place in the larger picture. The ongoing IPL has provided further evidence – if it was needed – that there is plenty of cricket left in Rohit and Kohli and while Jadeja hasn’t exactly fired on all cylinders in a Chennai Super Kings line-up floundering from one defeat to another, he is anything but a spent force.
India have a packed international schedule ahead of them starting from the middle of June, when they will travel to England for a five-Test series. Apart from the World Test Championship campaign, the Asia Cup T20 tournament looms large, seguing into the T20 World Cup next year.
As the country vs country battles unfold, the contracts will be forgotten and the focus will turn to what happens on the field. In the knowledge, at the back of one’s mind, that sustained excellence will be rewarded in the future with greater recognition and a more elevated standing.
Published – April 25, 2025 12:07 am IST
