The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has downgraded the grade of veteran batters Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in the latest central contracts list.

The BCCI has four categories -- A+ which has annual remuneration of Rs 7 crore while A, B and C categories are valued at Rs 5 crore, Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore respectively.

Rahane and Pujara who were earlier in Grade A are now in Grade B after they were reviewed by BCCI on their yearly performance. Both batters are currently out of form which resulted in BCCI dropping them from the upcoming Sri Lanka Test series at home.

"BCCI decreases Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara's grades (from Grade A to B) after reviewing their yearly performance. Wriddhiman Saha also dropped from his current grade (from Grade B to C) due to the same reason," BCCI officials told ANI.

Wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha has also been demoted from group B to C.

( With inputs from ANI )

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