Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
On Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) revealed the Annual Player Contracts list for the Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team, for the period of October 2022 to September 2023, which includes the T20 World Cup last year to the month right before the blockbuster ODI World Cup at home this year.
The list comprised of 26 players divided into four pay-scale grades. Few earned a promotion, few were demoted while as many as seven players have lost their contracts. Moments after the revelation of the player contract list, BCCI were blasted with queries pertaining to the three players and their role in the World Cup plan for India.
The biggest gainer of the lot was Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. The former joined Indian captain Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah in the A+ category while the latter made a jump from Grade B to A. And, Hardik Pandya, who had spent the better half of the last cyle injured, has been promoted from Grade C to A. On the other hand, some veteran cricketers in Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were both part of Grade B, lost their contracts.
While Jadeja’s promotion was celebrated by fans, who felt that the all-rounder deserved it, Bumrah retaining his place in Grade A+ pay-scale was questioned with the logic that the the star pacer did not appear in a single match during the ongoing cycle with his recurring back issue, having last played in September 2022 before being ruled out of the T20 World Cup. Here are some of the tweets.
– ‘Umran Malik not in World Cup plans and Shikhar Dhawan still there?’ –
Fans were also livid at Umran not being given a player contract for the 2022-23 cycle with many asking whether it means that he is not part of India’s ODI World Cup plan. The promising fast bowler from Jammu ann Kashmir made his debut in the sumemr of 2022 after having impressed trhe selectors and veteran crickets with his performance in IPL. He represented India in 16 white-ball matches, picking 24 wickets, with his last appearance being in the New Zealand series at home earlier in January this year.
Questions were also raised on Dhawan, who has long fallen out of reckoning in Tests and T20Is and last represented India in the ODIs in December 2022 before Shubman Gill ably replaced him in the India set-up for the World Cup plan.
Questions were also raised on Mohammed Siraj’s place in Grade B despite being an all-format player now while fans rejoiced at Sanju Samson being handed a central contract.
