Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana set to earn maiden BCCI central contracts

The much-awaited central contracts for the Indian team will be released soon and barring a few, there are unlikely to be too many surprises in the list. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may make some concessions for a few promising players who may not totally qualify to earn the central retainership. Abhishek Sharma, a promising left-handed batter for the Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) teams, could be at the top of the list. He is currently playing in the IPL and is one of the best cricketers in world cricket. He is likely to be in Grade C, which guarantees a one-crore annual retainer. As per the BCCI standard policy, "athletes who meet the criteria of playing a minimum of three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20Is within the specified period will automatically be included in Grade C on a pro-rata basis." Abhishek has featured in 17 T20Is in all and has played in 12 T20Is in the specified period, which is generally from October to September. Nitish Reddy is also a candidate for the central contracts list, along with Abhishek (24). The 21-year-old Andhra all-rounder has played five Tests and four T20Is and should qualify to be in the list by virtue of having played the required number of Tests. For the record, he was part of all five Tests in the BGT series Down Under. In a similar vein, Harshit Rana might be included as well. Rana has only played one T20I, five One-Day Internationals, and two Tests, but he does not meet the requirements for any of the other two formats. But cumulatively he has played a sufficient number of games to be in the list. As previously reported, Varun Chakaravarthy (four ODIs and 18 T20Is) too should come into the list, as well as Shreyas Iyer, who was one of the star performers in the just-concluded Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja will continue to be A+ category and it is unlikely that there will be too many changes to the gradings - give or take two-three names. Changes to the Indian teams' support staff and the contracts are expected to be announced in a few days. It is believed that the decisions were made recently.