Star Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and opener Shubman Gill are likely to get promotions in their new central contracts, as per sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Suryakumar has been in fantastic form this year in T20Is. In 31 T20I matches this year, he aggregated 1,164 runs at an average of 46.56, with two centuries and nine fifties and the best score of 117. He is also the highest T20I run-scorer this year.
Hardik Pandya is also having a great 2022. In 27 matches and 25 innings this year, he has scored 607 runs at an average of 33.72, with three half-centuries and the best individual score of 71*. He has also taken 20 wickets this year in the 20-over format.
Also in 3 ODIs this year, he has scored 100 runs in two innings, with the best score of 71*. He has also taken six wickets in the 50-over format this year. In 12 ODIs this year, Gill has scored 607 runs at an average of 67.44, with one century and four half-centuries.
On the other hand, BCCI is likely to remove Ajinkya Rahane, Ishant Sharma and wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha from the new annual central contract. Ishant has not played an international match for India since November 2021.
Rahane has not played international cricket since January this year. He played only two tests this year, scoring 68 runs at an average of 17.00, with one fifty. In 2021, he had scored 479 runs in 13 matches with two fifties at an average of 20.82. His inconsistent performances have kept him away from the team for a long while.
Saha has also not represented Team India since December 2021, when he played a Test match against New Zealand. Currently, Virat Kohli, skipper Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are in the Grade A+ contract, which is the highest level of contract. Grade A also includes the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.
The Grade B contract list has the likes of Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha, Shardul Thakur and Mayank Agarwal. Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj are part of the Grade C contract list.
Star Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav, all-rounder Hardik Pandya and opener Shubman Gill are likely to get promotions in their new central contracts, as per sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).