By IANS
Mumbai : The Indian cricket board Thursday hiked the contracts retainership fee and added a fourth category of players for the Oct 2007-Sep 2008 period, increasing the total number of players to 33.
Twenty20 World Championship winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, vice-captain Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan – who bowled extremely well on the recent English tour but was not picked for Twenty20 – were promoted to Grade A from Grade C.
Grade A players are guaranteed Rs.6 million, a hike of Rs.100,000 on the previous year, announced the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The announcement comes two days before the seven-match One-day International series against Australia starting in Bangalore Saturday.
Other players in Grade A are the three stalwarts — Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid, who recently made himself unavailable for captaincy – and Anil Kumble, who has quit One-day Internationals.
Virender Sehwag, V.V.S. Laxman and Harbhajan Singh, who have had an indifferent 2006-07 season, have been demoted from Grade A to Grade B. But they will still receive Rs.4 million – an increase of Rs.500,000 – for the year.
Left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan, who was out of form for most of the previous season but regained form to win the Man of the Match award in the Twenty20 final, has been consigned to Grade C along with Rudra Pratap Singh and Ajit Agarkar.
They and five others, including Robin Uthappa and Munaf Patel, will receive Rs.2.5 million – a hike of Rs.500,000 on the previous figure.
Left-handed batsman Gautam Gambhir, who had the second highest aggregate in the Twenty20 World Championship, was promoted to Grade B from Grade C.
The new Grade D has 11 players, including Twenty20-winning team members Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma and Yusuf Pathan, and each of them will get Rs.1.5 million.
The other prominent Grade D players are Mohammed Kaif and wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel, who are trying to stage a comeback to the national team. Kaif is currently leading India ‘A’ while Parthiv is the vice-captain against South Africa A now touring India.
“A player who is not offered retainership and is selected to play for India in Tests or One-day Internationals will be placed in Grade D,” said BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
“A player in Grade D, if he plays five Tests or 15 ODIs in a year, will be placed in Grade C from that date and will be paid retainership on pro rata basis,” he said.
Left-arm spinner Murali Karthik, who has virtually been forgotten by the selectors, does not find a place even in Grade D. Last season he was in Grade C.
The contracts run from Oct 1, 2007, to Sep 30, 2008.
The players:
Grade A (Rs.6 million): Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Zaheer Khan.
Grade B (Rs. 4 million): V.V.S. Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Sreesanth, Dinesh Kartik, Rudra Pratap Singh and Virendra Sehwag.
Grade C (Rs.2.5 million): Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Robin Uttappa, Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina.
Grade D (Rs.1.5 million): Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose, Mohammed Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parthiv Patel, S. Badrinath, Akash Chopra and Yusuf Pathan.