Iyer, Kishan win back India contracts as Pant’s deal upgraded

AFP | New Delhi

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Batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan yesterday returned to India’s central contract list after a year’s absence, the cricket board said, while wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was promoted to Grade A.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were unchanged as the four players in the top A+ category as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced its central contracts for 2024-25.

Iyer entered at Grade B along with Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal and India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav. Kishan, a left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman, was in Grade C.

Both Iyer and Kishan were “not considered” for the annual contracts in the previous round after they skipped domestic tournaments.

The BCCI did not stipulate pay for each category, but A+ contracts in 2023 carried an annual salary of $844,000, with A grade players earning $603,000.

Seven players, including Sarfaraz Khan, Abhishek Sharma and Harshit Rana were handed central contracts for the first time.

Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired from international cricket earlier this year and formerly had a grade A contract, was dropped from the list.