Rohit Sharma was part of the Grade A+ contract last year © Getty A formal decision on the central contracts for the Indian men’s team has yet to be made. More precisely, the high-powered Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meeting, widely reported in the media, did not take place on Saturday. It can be stated with a degree of certainty that the final decision has been deferred. “All decisions have been deferred,” a highly placed source informed Cricbuzz on Saturday. A meeting among chief selector Ajit Agarkar, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia was reportedly scheduled for Saturday in Guwahati. However, this website understands that no such meeting was ever planned for the day. The selection committee has not formally discussed the player grades as of Saturday, although there are indications that the BCCI is keen to take a final call on the grades as well as the tenure of the Indian team’s coaching staff sooner rather than later. Interestingly, it had only recently announced the annual player retainership for 2024-25 last week. Gambhir, who was holidaying overseas, returned home on Friday but was believed to be in Delhi on Saturday. There was no information on Ajit Agarkar travelling to Guwahati either, although selectors have been making trips to Assam to watch the IPL matches. Guwahati hosted a game between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders on March 26, and will stage its second and final IPL match of the season on Sunday evening, featuring Chennai Super Kings. Meanwhile, a review of the Indian team’s coaching staff performances is expected to take place during the meeting whenever it is held. As reported by this website, particular significance will be given to the roles of two members of the coaching staff. It is a no-brainer that Shreyas Iyer, who was left out of the central contracts last year for not honouring domestic duties, will come back into the elite list and similarly Ravichandran Ashwin, who has retired from international cricket, will be dropped from the Grade A contract that he was handed last year. Along the same lines, Varun Chakaravarthy, who played a stellar role in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph in Dubai, will automatically be considered for retainership as he meets the eligibility criteria. According to BCCI rules, “athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of 3 Tests, 8 ODIs, or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis.” Chakaravarthy has featured in four ODIs and 12 T20Is (18 matches in total) over the past 12 months, making him eligible. Those changes apart, the contracts will remain largely unchanged, except in the flexible Grade C, in which there were 15 players. There were 30 players in all in last year’s retainership with four players in A+, six in A category, and five in the Grade B.
