Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma demoted to Grade B category:Ishan Kishan left out, BCCI picks 30 players in annual central contract list for 2025-26

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been demoted to Grade B in the new contracts list announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 2025-26. The two stalwarts earlier were a part of the Grade A+ category, which has now been removed completely. According to the new contracts list, Grade A is the highest category, which features just three players- ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Ishan Kishan, who made a comeback to the national team this year, has not been included in any bracket. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma demoted to Grade B The biggest talking point of the central contracts for 2025-26 is the demotion of Virat and Rohit. The two cricket greats are only active in ODI cricket after having retired from T20Is in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025. The Grade A+ category, of which Virat and Rohit were part of previously, has been abolished altogether. Alongside Rohit and Virat, T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Shreyas Iyer and Kuldeep Yadav and some of the top cricketers feature in Group B. Now, the highest category for players in the BCCI’s contracts is Grade A, which has just three players. While Gill and Bumrah are automatic choices, given that the former is India’s ODI and Test captain and the pacer is an integral part in all three formats, Jadeja features in the top bracket despite his retirement from T20Is in 2024. T20I vice-captain Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, top-ranked T20I cricketers Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy have been included in Grade C. No Ishan Kishan in any category One of the biggest surprises was the removal of Ishan Kishan. The wicketkeeper-batter had received a Grade C contract in the 2024-25 list but was surprisingly removed this time around. Kishan had led Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy this season and had deservedly earned a recall to India’s T20I squad. Not very long ago he scored a maiden T20I century against New Zealand. Not just Ishan, but another notable name missing is that of Mohammed Shami who last played for India in the Champions Trophy final last year. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues kept in top bracket The BCCI also announced the central contracts list for women’s cricketers with all-format captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma kept in the top bracket, which is Grade A. Renuka Singh Thakur, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana and Richa Ghosh were kept in Grade B.