BCCI Planning To Remove Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma From Grade A+ In Central Contracts

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has revealed the new contract list. They have retained both the megastars, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in the top bracket of the annual players’ contract list, less than 24 hours after their supreme knocks to win the IPL games for their respective franchises.

The out-of-favor duo of Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan returned to the fold in the lower brackets, while the premier all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah also grabbed the highest-paid A+ category in the list.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli hold an A+ grade

Rohit Sharma’s retention in the grade A+ gives a message of the veteran making a comeback to lead the Indian Test series in the five-match England series to start the fourth cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2025-27.

BCCI will also decide after the final discussions with the head coach, Gautam Gambhir. For the A+ grade contracts, both Virat Kohli and Rohit will get INR 7 crore, along with Bumrah and Jadeja.

The reports have also learned that the national selectors made the list two weeks ago after a meeting with Gambhir and the BCCI secretary, Devajit Saikia, but held back the announcement for 10 days.

Explained: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma holding the Grade A+ contract

The A+ central contract is offered based on the players’ performance in the year gone by. It makes the players an automatic choice across the three formats, while the A category is for those who are certain in the longest format and who play the other two formats from time to time.

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Manu questioned the authority to give Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Jadeja the A+ grade since they all have retired from the shortest format of the game after India claimed the T20 World Cup last year.

“The period of the fresh central contract is from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. The assessment year is October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024. Kohli, Rohit, and Jadeja played in the T20 World Cup final in June 2024, and hence, at that time, they were all-format regulars. Going by that technicality, they are supposed to be in the A+ category.” The BCCI official revealed.

Just as Rohit went through a struggling period in the home Test series against New Zealand and continued the rough patch down under, Virat Kohli also experienced the same fate.

The Delhi-born accumulated just 93 runs in six innings against the Blackcaps with just one half-century to his name in the opening Bengaluru Test. He started the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 with an unbeaten century at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

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The veteran kept repeating the same mistakes for the rest of the five games and ended with 191 runs in nine innings at an average of around 24. There is pressure on him also to do well in the England away series.

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s IPL 2025

Both are going through different rhythms in the IPL 2025 so far. The Mumbai Indians’ batter, after five poor innings, celebrated his maiden half-century of the season with an unbeaten knock of 76 runs against the Chennai Super Kings.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is the fifth-leading run-getter of the season. The right-handed batter has drilled 322 runs in eight innings at an average of 64.40 and a strike rate of 140 with four fifties at the best score of unbeaten 73 runs for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).