India wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant has landed the second best central contract in a new list announced by the Indian cricket board, in recognition of his stellar show across formats.
The 21-year-old was handed an ‘A’ grade contract, which guarantees 50 million rupees (Dh2.6m) a year. He is among 11 players who have been given the ‘A’ grade contract. Three players – skipper Virat Kohli, opener Rohit Sharma and pacer Jasprit Bumrah – have been given the ‘A plus’ contract which pays them 70 million rupees (Dh3.6m).
Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan and seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar have both been downgraded to ‘A’ grade after the former’s loss of form and the latter’s prolonged injury layoff.
Pant has made a stellar start to his international cricket, smashing record centuries during the Test series in England and later Australia.
Meanwhile, Test opener Murali Vijay has been removed from the list entirely after a horror run in Tests. His place in the team has gone to Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal.
Central contracts:
Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah
Grade A: R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant
Grade B: KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya
Grade C: Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Khaleel Ahmed, Wriddhiman Saha
