The BCCI has officially announced its annual player contracts for the 2025–26 season, introducing a significant reshuffle in the hierarchy of Indian cricket. Valid from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026, the new list reflects a shift toward a new generation as the board phases out the elite A+ category.
The biggest news involves former captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Following their retirement from T20Is and Tests, respectively, both legends now feature in only one international format (ODIs). Consequently, BCCI have moved them from the top tier to Category B.
In contrast, Shubman Gill has emerged as the biggest gainer. Taking over as the Test and ODI captain, Gill joins pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in the prestigious Category A, which is now the highest bracket.
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The overall men’s list has been trimmed from 34 to 30 players. Several regular names failed to make the cut this year:
- Mohammed Shami: Dropped from Category A due to prolonged injury layoffs.
- Axar Patel: Downgraded to Category C despite being a white-ball regular.
- Exclusions: Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, Mukesh Kumar, and Ishan Kishan have all been left out of the 2026 contract cycle.
While the BCCI has not officially disclosed the exact payscales, the removal of the A+ tier suggests a streamlined financial structure focused on all-format consistency and future leadership.
List of BCCI-contracted players for 2025-26
Category A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.
Category B: Washington Sundar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer.
Category C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, B Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad.
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