Ravichandran Ashwin (left) joins Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni in Grade A list of players. Harbhajan Singh (right) moves down to Grade B, joining Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav © Getty Images
Mumbai: Oct 26, 2012
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has replaced Harbhajan Singh in the BCCI’s list of Grade A level players, the highest, for the central contracts for 2012-13.
The Grade A players are Rs. 1 crore, whereas Rs 5o lakh are given to Grade B and Rs 25 lakh to Grade C.
Ashwin has been a part of India’s spin department since last year and has joined Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, vice-captain Virat Kohli and the Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the top list.
The one’s who has be demoted are Ishant Sharma from Grade A and Ravindra Jadeja and Praveen Kumar from Grade B to C.
On the other hand, all-rounder Irfan Pathan found a place in BCCI’s list of Grade B players.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who is seen as the successor to Rahul Dravid in Tests, has moved to Grade B from C and so have Ajinkya Rahane and Umesh Yadav.
However, fast bowler Jayadev Unadkat, who hails from Saurashtra, has not received any contract from the board. He was previously a part of the Grade C players.
Ashok Dinda, who has had an impressive domestic season, has been handed a Grade C contract. He has been the leading Ranji Trophy wicket-taker and is also a part of India’s limited overs squad.
Lakshmipathy Balaji, who returned to India’s squad of Twenty20, has been added in Grade C list.
Following are the list of players under different Grades:
Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin.
Grade B: Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav.
Grade C: Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Abhimanyu Mithun, Murali Vijay. Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Parthiv Patel, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Piyush Chawla, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Sharma, Varun Aaron, Abhinav Mukund, Ashok Dinda, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji.
