Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Shift To Grade B As BCCI Unveils Revamped Central Contracts For 2025–26

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a major overhaul of its central contract system for the 2025-26 season, bringing significant changes for some of the country's biggest names.

In a notable move, former India captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been placed in Grade B after the board decided to discontinue the elite Grade A+ category.

Kohli and Rohit, who were part of the top contract bracket last season, are now active in only one format each. Both stalwarts stepped away from T20 internationals after India's title triumph at the 2024 World Cup and later retired from Test cricket in May 2025. With their reduced international commitments, the BCCI's revised structure reflects a sharper focus on multi-format availability.

The highest bracket under the new system, Grade A, features Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. Gill, currently leading India in Tests and ODIs, remains a central figure in the national setup despite being left out of the 2026 T20 World Cup squad.

Bumrah continues to spearhead India's pace attack, managing his workload across formats. While he has not featured in ODIs since the 2023 World Cup, the fast bowler is expected to prioritise the 50-over format in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup. Jadeja, meanwhile, remains a key contributor in Tests and ODIs and is now India's most experienced Test player following the retirement of Kohli and Rohit.

Rishabh Pant has also been placed in Grade B despite being a regular in Tests and ODIs. Appointed vice-captain of the Test side in 2025, Pant recently captained India for the first time in a Test against South Africa. Shreyas Iyer, India's ODI vice-captain, has also received a Grade B contract as he continues his recovery from a back injury. T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, who has not featured in Tests or ODIs since 2023, is part of the same bracket.

Players With Grade A Contract	Players With Grade B Contract	Players With Grade C Contract
Shubman Gill	Virat Kohli	Tilak Varma
Ravindra Jadeja	Rohit Sharma	Axar Patel
Jasprit Bumrah	Washington Sundar	Shivam Dube
KL Rahul	Rinku Singh
Mohammed Siraj	Arshdeep Singh
Rishabh Pant	Sanju Samson
Hardik Pandya	Akash Deep
Yashasvi Jaiswal	Prasidh Krishna
Kuldeep Yadav	Dhruv Jurel
Suryakumar Yadav	Harshit Rana
Shreyas Iyer	Varun Chakaravarthy
Nitish Kumar Reddy
Abhishek Sharma
Sai Sudharsan
Ravi Bishnoi
Ruturaj Gaikwad