The changes have come into place through the BCCI Men’s Contracts List 2025-26, with Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja being the only players who have made it to the top tier. The new central contract will come into force from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026.
Category A: Gill, Bumrah and Jadeja in Elite Group
The top athletes of the BCCI men’s contracts list, the Category A category, has only three players this season:
Shubman Gill (Test and ODI captain)
Jasprit Bum
Ravindra Jadeja
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Jadeja presently features as India’s most experienced active cricketer in the Test format, while the selection of Gill underlines his emergence since he took over the Test and ODI leadership from Rohit Sharma last season.
BCCI Men’s Contracts List 2025-26: A+ Grade Removed From BCCI Men’s Contracts List
Notably, the A+ grade, which existed in the 2024-25 contracts list has been scrapped. Last season, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja were the ones in that elite bracket. The BCCI seems to have made Category A more exclusive, with the absence of A+ in the 2025-26 BCCI men’s contracts list. The cricketers, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, have been shifted to Category B.
The former India captains, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, have been slotted in Category B since they both feature in only one international format now. Both Kohli and Sharma are experienced and of stature, but this shift shows the new emphasis of the BCCI on multi-format availability. They are joined in Category B by several key performers across formats.
Category B: Experienced Core of Indian Cricket
Category B on the BCCI men’s contracts list includes a strong mix of senior players and format specialists:
Washington Sundar
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
KL Rahul
Mohammed Siraj
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Hardik Pandya
Rishabh Pant (vice-captain in Tests)
Kuldeep Yadav
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Suryakumar Yadav (T20I captain)
Shreyas Iyer
Based on comparisons with last season, the Category B thus seems like a merged tier of the previous Grade A and Grade B lists, which, in effect, means a promotion for Washington Sundar.
Axar Patel Out of Favour Despite Good Performances
All-rounder Axar Patel, on the other hand, has been downgraded to Category C despite being a crucial member of the teams in white-ball formats and currently the ongoing T20 World Cup campaign vice-captain for India. In this way, his case has been one of the more surprising changes in the list of BCCI men’s contracts.
Category C: Young Talent and Emerging Players
The Category C list focuses on India’s next generation and fringe players:
Axar Patel
Tilak Varma
Rinku Singh
Shivam Dube
Sanju Samson
Arshdeep Singh
Prasidh Krishna
Akash Deep
Dhruv Jurel
Harshit Rana
Varun Chakravarthy
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Abhishek Sharma
B Sai Sudharsan
Ravi Bishnoi
Ruturaj Gaikwad
This level shows how the BCCI wants to invest in new talent while still maintaining its performance-based contracts.
BCCI Men’s Contracts List 2025-26: No New Entrants
There are no new additions on the BCCI men’s contracts list. The number of players on the list has been decreased from 34 to 30.
Several notable names have been omitted, including:
Mohammed Shami (previously Grade A)
Sarfaraz Khan
Rajat Patidar
Mukesh Kumar
BCCI Yet to Announce Contract Salaries
The BCCI has not yet revealed the salary structure for Categories A, B, and C in central contracts for the 2025-26 men’s team. Nevertheless, further clarification on salary scales is expected in the coming weeks.
Key Takeaways from BCCI Men’s Contracts List 2025-26
- The biggest beneficiary has been Shubman Gill, who has moved to the top tier
- The grade of A+ has been taken out, making the contracts
- Kohli and Rohit moved to category B due to single-format emphasis
- Axar Patel’s demotion is notable Total contracted players reduced to 30
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