Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma could face a downgrade in the BCCI’s annual central contract list for the 2026–27 season. With both senior batters having retired from T20Is in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025, they are now active in only one format, prompting the management to consider moving them to Grade B.
According to ANI, the BCCI is preparing to announce a revised contract structure in which the A+ category may be scrapped altogether. Kohli and Rohit are currently in the A+ bracket along with Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, all of whom earn INR 7 crore annually under this grade. If the changes are approved, Jadeja and Bumrah could be shifted to Grade A. The proposal has already been put forward by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and is expected to be discussed at the upcoming Apex Council meeting before a final decision is taken.
In case BCCI scrap the A+ category, it needs to be seen if a new D category is launched. In the 2023-24 season, the governing council added a pace-bowling contract, under which the likes of Umran Malik, Mayank Yadav and Akash Deep, among others, were added and were part of the NCA throughout the year. If a similar thing is relaunched will be something that needs to be seen.
BCCI’s annual contract forthe 2024-25 season
Grade A+ - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A - Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Rishabh Pant
Grade B - Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer
Grade C - Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana