Rohit Sharma and Co to receive salary hike from BCCI after 5 years!

By Lokmat English Desk | Updated: December 15, 2022 18:20 IST2022-12-15T18:20:33+5:302022-12-15T18:20:33+5:30

Rohit Sharma & Co are set for a hike in their central contracts after 5 years.

s. BCCI is mulling a 10-20% hike in annual retainership for the 2022-23 season. Despite playing more games during these four years, Indian players have not received any hike even after BCCI sold two new IPL franchises last year.

“It’s part of the discussions we will have. We are aware that the retainership increment was last done during CoA. But we also have to account for Covid. This time, we are discussing an increase of around 10-20%. But nothing is finalised as of now. We will have a decision at Apex Council Meeting,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.

The last time players received a salary hike was in the 2017-18 season. The Vinod Rai-led CoA introduced the Grade A+ slab with Rs 7 all format specialists getting Rs 7 Crore. Since then, the BCCI has maintained four slabs of Rs 7 Cr, Rs 5 Cr, Rs 3 Cr and Rs 1 Cr.

According to reports, the highest category slab of Rs 7 Crore is under discussion to become Rs 10 Cr. Rs 5 Crore slab is likely to become 7 Crore and players in Grade B and C could earn around Rs 5 and 3 Crore, respectively.

India batters Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill are all set to rewarded handsomely for their stellar run of form as the BCCI is likely to promote the two batters in their list of centrally-contracted cricketers.

Suryakumar and Gill, both of whom currently belong in category C are likely to jump to B, while Hardik Pandya, who is tipped to become India's next T20I captain will most probably jump to the highest category – that is A – which comprises the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, when the new contracts are announced later this month on December 21.

But while promotions beckon Suryakumar and Gill, a couple of senior cricketers who have served India well in the past but have fallen out of favour, are likely to lose their contracts. Ajinkya Rahane and Ishan Sharma, who were regular members of the Indian Test set-up during the MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli captaincy era, are nearing the end of their respective careers and the board is perhaps looking at either player as someone who could return to the national fold.

Rahane and Ishant had been demoted from category B to C, but are in danger of being dropped out of the central contracts list altogether. Ishant last played a Test for India in November 2021 and Rahane earlier this year in January against South Africa.

Category A is the highest as per paygrade, with players in this bracket getting paid ₹7 crore a year. In B, which already features KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, players are paid ₹5 crore. Cricketers in category C earn ₹3 crore a year. Ishan Kishan, who struck a belligerent double century in the 3rd ODI against Bangladesh in Chattogram on Sunday, is expected to break into the C category.

Tags :Rohit Sharma