BCCI to streamline Annual Central Contracts system: Devajit Saikia

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to streamline its Annual Central Contracts system and suspend the A-plus category for now, a move secretary Devajit Saikia said was prompted by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma stepping away from Tests and T20Is to play only ODIs.

“The plan will go ahead very soon. We are removing one category because the players who were eligible for the A-plus category are now playing just one of the three formats.

“The criteria we have set to qualify a player for A-plus are not being fulfilled,” Saikia told Sportstar.

As per the existing policy, a cricketer in the A-plus category is paid ₹7 crore annually, while those in Category-A receive ₹5 crore, ₹3 crore in Category- B, and ₹1 crore in Category C. In the yet-to-be-announced retainers for 2025–26, players will be bracketed into only Categories A, B, and C. Only four players — Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja — were in the A-plus category last season, and Bumrah is now the only all-format player among them. Kohli and Rohit play only ODIs, while Jadeja remains part of the Test and ODI set-up, having retired from T20Is.

“Some of the players who were in that A-plus bracket have decided not to play in all three formats. Therefore, there are not enough players remaining to qualify and fulfil the eligibility criteria,” Saikia said.

“A one-format player will not be eligible for A-plus, so that’s why we had to take a call. There is no heartburn.” However, it is understood that there will be no pay cut for Bumrah.

IPL in Bengaluru?

The BCCI is expected to decide whether Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will be able to play its home games at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium this season, in the next couple of days.

“During the last meeting, we were informed that the association has produced one document, which says that the government has set some conditions which should be fulfilled.

“There will be an inspection after that, and once it is given the green signal then only the crowd manifest can be made,” Saikia said.

“There are certain gray areas. So we have requested them to come up with a complete proposition. In the next (couple of) days, we are having another meeting to decide whether the Chinnaswamy Stadium will be ready for hosting the IPL or not.”