Cricket board promotes Raina to Grade A demoting Yuvraj
November 11th, 2010 - 8:26 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS) Yuvraj Singh has been dropped from Grade A in the central contracts of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Suresh Raina promoted to the top grade.
Yuvraj, who has run into poor form and injuries, has been out of the national team for a while now. The dashing left-hander had a disappointing 2010, starting with the World Twenty20 in the West Indies. He was dropped for the Asia Cup but returned to the Tests in Sri Lanka in July-August. After scoring a fifty in the first innings of the first Test, he missed the second with viral fever and his replacement Raina grabbed the opportunity scoring a century on debut. With Raina cementing his place in the side, Yuvraj has gone back to domestic cricket to try and regain his form.
Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and Pragyan Ojha have been rewarded for their good performances and they have been promoted to Grade B, while Rohit Sharma has been dropped to Grade C.
Pacers R.P. Singh and Munaf Patel, who were earlier in Grade B, have been excluded altogether from the contracts. Joining them is Dinesh Karthik, who has been in and out of the national squad as second wicketkeeper and opening batsman.
Karnataka seamers Abhimanyu Mithun and R.Vinay Kumar, who made it to the national side with impressive showing in domestic cricket, have made the cut and are in Grade C.
Another youngster Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored an impressive half-century against Australia in his debut Test, has also been included in Grade C.
The board has also reduced the total number of contracted players from 41 to 24 and scrapped Grade D. However, there has been sizeable increase in the pay packages.
The annual retainer has been increased from Rs. 60 lakh to Rs. 1 crore ($135,594 to $225,990) for Grade A and from Rs 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh ($90,396 to $112,995) for Grade B. For Grade C, the amount remains Rs. 25 lakhs ($56,498).
The match fee for a player in the Test eleven is Rs. 7 lakhs, for ODI Rs. 4 lakhs and Rs. 2 lakhs in Twenty20. The match fee for non-playing squad members will be 50 per cent of the fee.
If a non-contracted player is selected to play for team India, he will be given a pro-rata contract in the ‘C’ Grade.
Grade A: Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, V. V. S. Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan
Grade B: Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Pragyan Ojha
Grade C: S Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, R. Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar
- Board's Grade A contract for Yuvraj, Ishant and Virat - Oct 29, 2011
- Yuvraj dropped, Pujara drafted in Indian Test squad (Lead) - Sep 20, 2010
- Yuvraj axed from Test squad, Pujara included - Sep 20, 2010
- World Cup probables announced - Dec 18, 2010
- Seniors rested for Zimbabwe tour, Raina to lead - May 09, 2010
- Seniors rested, Gambhir to lead ODI side against New Zealand - Nov 21, 2010
- World Cup: Selectors to pick 15-member Indian team Monday - Jan 14, 2011
- Six changes in India squad for England, Sehwag to join later - Jul 02, 2011
- Yuvraj dropped from Indian team for Test series against Australia - Sep 20, 2010
- Pandey, Vinay Kumar, Ojha find place among Twenty20 probables - Feb 25, 2010
- This is how the IPL teams will look - Jan 09, 2011
- Nehra awarded Grade B contract, Irfan demoted to Grade C - Nov 25, 2009
- Mithun replaces Praveen in Test squad for Australia tour - Dec 06, 2011
- Dravid, Yuvraj out of first Test against South Africa - Jan 28, 2010
- Lanka tri-series: Tendulkar, Gambhir Bhajji rested, Yuvraj recalled - Jul 31, 2010
Tags: abhimanyu, asia cup, central contracts, cricket board, domestic cricket, grade c, india bcci, karthik, left hander, mithun, munaf patel, ojha, pragyan, pujara, r p singh, rs 40, vinay kumar, viral fever, wicketkeeper, yuvraj singh