No Downgrade: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma To Continue In A+ Central Contract Bracket

Many fans have wondered whether Virat and Rohit will continue in the A+ category of BCCI's central contracts, after exiting two of the three international formats.

Kohli and Rohit will retain their A+ category status for this contract cycle, despite their retirement from Test and T20 formats. 

Source : PTI

Following their recent retirement from Test cricket - after already stepping away from T20Is - questions have emerged over the future of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in BCCI's central contract system. Rohit announced his Test retirement on May 7, while Kohli followed on May 12, officially ending his journey in his favorite format.

Many fans have wondered whether the two icons will continue in the A+ category of BCCI's central contracts, especially after exiting two of the three international formats.

However, as per BCCI's guidelines, central contracts are awarded based on a player's performance in the previous calendar year. The contracts issued for 2025 are therefore based on performances from 2024.

This means that Kohli and Rohit will retain their A+ category status for this contract cycle, despite their retirement from Test and T20 formats. 

How much will Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma earn from BCCI Central Contract?

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) central contract features 34 cricketers. There are four grades in BCCI's central contract, and the players are paid accordingly: Grade A+: INR 7 crore, Grade A: INR 5 crore, Grade B: INR 3 crore and Grade C: INR 1 crore.

India will remain inactive until June, when they travel to England to begin a five-match Test series, marking the start of their World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.

Having reached the WTC Finals in both 2021 and 2023, India missed out on qualifying for the 2025 Final. The team will be aiming to improve on that performance and contend strongly in the upcoming cycle.

BCCI Annual Player Retainership 2024-25: Complete List

Grade A+: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

Grade A: Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant

Grade B: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, 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