Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma may get demoted to Grade B category in BCCI contracts shake-up

India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill, and veteran allrounder Ravindra Jadeja are set to be the only three players awarded Grade A central contracts for the 2025–26 season by the BCCI, reported TOI.

Former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who now feature only in the ODI format, have been placed in the Grade B category, TOI has exclusively learnt. Both Kohli and Rohit—modern-day greats of the game—were part of the top A+ bracket earlier but have been downgraded as they currently play just one of the three international formats, according to the TOI report.

In all, 30 Indian players are expected to receive central contracts for the 2025–26 season, based on the recommendations of the national selectors.

Bumrah, India's premier pacer across formats and team's strike bowler, was in the A+ category, and so was Jadeja. For Gill, being retained in the A category of central contracts is a major source of relief after being dropped from India's T20 squad just ahead of the 2026 T20 World Cup at home. Like Kohli and Rohit, Jadeja has retired from T20Is, but he still features in Tests and ODIs, where he has been in poor form of late.

'No A+ category'

The Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee had recommended scrapping the prestigious Grade A+ category altogether. Introduced in 2018, the move directly impacted senior stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who had earlier featured in the top bracket.

Under the revised structure, Grade B central contracts will be handed to Washington Sundar, Test opener and ODI wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, senior pacer Mohammed Siraj, white-ball allrounder Hardik Pandya, India’s Test vice-captain Rishabh Pant, Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, Test and ODI opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, and ODI middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer.

Grade C contracts will be awarded to 16 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, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

The list of men’s contracts for 2025-26

• Grade A: Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja.
• Grade B: Washington Sundar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer.
• Grade C: 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, Sai Sudarshan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad.