BCCI Announce Annual Player Contracts For Women Cricketers; Harmanpreet, Smriti, Deepti In Grade A

A total of 17 women cricketers have been offered a central contract by the BCCI.

Deepti Sharma has joined women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana in BCCI's highest bracket of annual retainers.

Source : AFP

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced their annual contract for women cricketrs for the year 2022-23 on Thursday. The biggest news from the annual retainers is that Deepti Sharma has been promoted to Grade A- the highest bracket of annual retainers. She joins the women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana in this top bracket.

In addition, Poona Yadav, the legspinner, who was previously part of the highest bracket of pay when the central contracts were announced in May 2021, has not been given a contract along with the now retired pair of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, both of whom were part of Grade B.

While Raj announced after the ODI World Cup in New Zealand last year, Goswami played her final match during India's record ODI-series win over England at Lord's in September 2022. 

Moreover, all-rounder Shikha Pandey also does not find her name in the list. She did receive a recall in the side ahead of the T20 World Cup in South Africa but hasn't been offered a central contract by the BCCI. Previously, she was part of the Grade B set of players.

Grade B earlier had 10 players but now only has five with Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh, who were previously part of Grade C, securing a promotion. Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad are the other players in this bracket.

🚨 NEWS 🚨: BCCI announces annual player retainership 2022-23 - Team India (Senior Women). #TeamIndia

More Details 🔽https://t.co/C4wPOfi2EF

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) April 27, 2023

As far as the Grade C bracket is concerned, it had six players the last time around but now has six. Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Yastika Bhatia and Harleen Deol are the first-time entrants in this bracket. Radha Yadav also finds her name in this list. She had earlier been included in Grade B.

Grade A (50 Lakh Rupees)

Ms. Harmanpreet Kaur
Ms. Smriti Mandhana
Ms. Deepti Sharma

Grade B (30 Lakh Rupees)

Ms Renuka Thakur
Ms. Jemimah Rodrigues
Ms. Shafali Verma
Ms. Richa Ghosh
Ms. Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Grade C (10 Lakh Rupees)

Ms. Meghna Singh
Ms. Devika Vaidya
Ms. Sabbineni Meghana
Ms. Anjali Sarvani
Ms. Pooja Vastrakar
Ms. Sneh Rana
Ms. Radha Yadav
Ms. Harleen Deol
Ms. Yastika Bhatia