5 Things to Note about the new BCCI cricket contracts

The BCCI is metamorphosing with Shashank Manohar at its helm. Manohar could almost be the Thomas Cromwell in The Wolf Hall, but history has never been kind to those who are on a mission to clean a system up. Although BCCI is pulling itself out of the mire, the shadows of the past are still long enough to cast an influence and much needs to be done.Nevertheless, amidst talk about conflicts of interest, the future of cricket and keeping BCCI business transparent, the player contracts were rolled out. A few things are very clear from this contract and one wonders if these contracts could offer incentives to the current team that has taken a 1-0 lead against South Africa in Mohali before moving to Bengaluru.Not much looks wrong with the contracts at first sight but if nit-picking were allowed a few more things could’ve been tinkered with.Promotions: Ajinkya Rahane (A)New contracts: Harbhajan Singh (C) and Sreenath Aravind (C).Demotions: Suresh Raina (B), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (B) and Ravindra Jadeja (C),Out of contract: R Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Manoj Tiwary, Parvez Rasool, Pankaj Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

#5 The rates haven\'t gone up

Shashank Manohar and Anurag Thakur, the two prominent faces in the new BCCI regime

The contracts were a long time coming, owing to delays caused by IPL corruption issues. Nevertheless, the BCCI hasn’t exactly splurged on its players. Not only has the number of contracts gone down, the retainer has also remained the same as it was two years ago.

Although the contracts are not the end all for players, who can still get contracts if they play a minimum of three international games, it is a warning sign for a lot of players who have to buck up to retain their contracts. Jadeja for example, has been demoted from B to C, coinciding with his fall from the team stakes.

#4 Great news for women\'s cricket

Mithali Raj and Shikha Pandey celebrate a winning moment for Team India, 2014

In a great move, BCCI has offered contracts to women cricketers for the first time with star players like Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Thirush Kamini getting a Grade A contract.

There is still a huge but understandable disparity in pay as the Grade A for women cricketers involves a retainer of Rs.15 lakhs, way below the Grade C contract retainers for men’s cricket. Nevertheless, it is a welcome move, one that will encourage more women cricket players and incentivise the game amongst greater sections of society.

#3 The tough calls

Considering recent cricket, Ami Mishra will feel most hard done with his Grade C contract

Not all players with contracts have a reason to be happy. The man who will feel most hard done by is Amit Mishra who has a Grade C contract despite his fine performances in the Tests and ODIs.

In a way, Mishra hasn’t been rewarded as well as someone like Umesh Yadav who features in the team a lot less than Mishra, if recent cricket is considered. Yadav and Shami have benefited from past performances whereas Mishra has Mohit Sharma to keep company in Grade C.

Interestingly, over the next one year, Jadeja, with a Grade C contract, will probably feature in a lot more matches than Rayudu with a Grade B contract worth 50 lakh rupees. Suresh Raina, still one of the short form specialists for India, has been dropped from A to B in a decision that is incomprehensible.

#2 The number of contracts comes down

Robin Uthappa is one of the 8 India players who have been given the shove this year

In another interesting move, the number of contracts comes down from 32 to 26 with players like Naman Ojha, who made his debut against Sri Lanka , Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar missing out on contracts completely. Even senior players like Harbhajan Singh now languish in the Grade C, which involves a 25 lakh retainer.

Fringe players like Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja also have a Grade C contract. While S Aravind has a Grade C contract, thanks to his featuring in the squad for T20, Sanju Samson misses out completely, a discouragement of sorts for the potential future Indian wicket-keeper.

#1 Rahane gets Grade A contract

Ajinkya Rahane led the team with aplomb on the tour of Zimbabwe in 2015

Only four players got Grade A contracts with Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and MS Dhoni retaining theirs. Ajinkya Rahane is the new man with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Suresh Raina losing out on theirs. It makes sense that Rahane who after his recent showing in the ODI team and his great contributions to the Test team got the timely encouragement much like his Test and ODI skippers.

R Ashwin, the only certainty in the team in all three formats after Virat Kohli, deserves his 1 crore Grade A contract too, as he refines his art and has reinvented himself as a match-winner. None of the other players with Grade B contracts are contenders for Grade A considering most of them play in just one or two formats.

Shikhar Dhawan, India’s first choice opener could’ve pushed for a Grade A contract but his poor recent form might have cost him that opportunity as he continues to share space in the Grade B with the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara. Interestingly, MS Dhoni retains his Grade A contract by virtue of being the ODI and T20 skipper, evewn after his retirement from Test cricket.