Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the annual player contracts for Team India. These contracts are for the period between October 2020 and September 2021 and dictate how much each player will earn while playing for the senior men’s cricket team in India. The BCCI is in charge of cricket in India, responsible for the organization of the IPL and other men’s domestic cricket competitions. The BCCI also organizes women’s cricket in India, setting up events such as the women’s T20 challenge.
The changes to player contracts saw three players retained in the A+ category. These three players are Team India’s captain Virat Kohli, vice-captain Rohit Sharma ad fast bowler JaspritBumrah. As some of India’s best players, Indian cricket fans will no doubt be pleased to see them being rewarded for their talents.
What is the A+ Category?
The contracts for Team India are split into four separate categories to determine their pay during a specific amount of time. The category a player is put into is determined by their contribution to the team. For example, the captain and vice-captain are generally in the highest category, while recent additions to the team will be in the lower category at first.
The categories and payments are as follows:
• Category A+ – A category A+ contract is reserved for the best players on the team and offers ₹7 crore.
• Category A – Category A is the second highest paying contract, providing players with ₹5 crore.
• Category B – Category B players will receive ₹3 crore over the length of their contract.
• Category C – Finally, Category C players receive the lowest amount during their contract length, getting ₹1 crore.
Categories players are placed in can change each year, with the BCCI making a decision based on the player’s performance during the previous year as well as their experience and total contributions to the team.
The Full Category List
With three players in the A+ category, the rest of the 28 players in Team India are divided between the remaining three categories. Category A features R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, CheteshwarPujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. Some fans were surprised to see that Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant weren’t given a promotion to the A+ category after their recent performances. Still, they may both end up in A+ at the start of the new season.
Meanwhile, category B is made up of wicketkeeper WriddhimanSaha, pacers Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshar Kumar, and Shardul Thakur and opening batsman Mayank Agarwal. These players are all an important part of Team India but not quite as valuable as the A or A+ players. Over time, they have the potential to move up a category if their performances are good enough.
Finally, C category contains Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, HanumaVihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sudnar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj. Kuldeep Yadav had a tough year that meant he was moved down two categories from A to C, but hopefully, he recovers his form in the upcoming competitions.
Team India 2021 Schedule
This year, Indian cricket fans have a lot of action to look forward to. Team India will be playing in the Asia Cup in June, with twelve one-day internationals scheduled and one final match. After that, there will be three T20 matches played in Sri Lanka in July, and later on, Team India begin their tour of England. The England tour is scheduled to take place between July and September and will feature 5 test matches. After a quiet 2020 for cricket, 2021 is looking a lot more exciting.
