Team India’s young batting sensation Richa Ghosh has been rewarded for her tremendous performances in the recent past. The right-hander, along with Jemimah Rodrigues has been elevated to the B category in the BCCI central contract while the likes of Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav have been left out.
As per the central contracts, a player in the A category gets paid Rs 50 lakh over and above match fees, and Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are allotted for the B and C category respectively. Only three players are contracted in the A category including current Team India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, flamboyant left-handed batter Smriti Mandhana and premier all-rounder Deepti Sharma.
There are many surprise inclusions and exclusions that will certainly raise many eyebrows. A total of seven new players, who weren’t contracted last year, have entered the contracts list including left-arm spinner Radha Yadav and left-hand batter Yastika Bhatia.
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who was part of the elite Grade A list last year, has been moved down to Grade B while all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar slips from Grade B to Grade C. The likes of Harleen Deol (Grade C), Sneh Rana (Grade C), and Shafali Verma (Grade B) have maintained the status quo from last year.
Pacer Renuka Thakur, who did not have a contract last year, has been bracketed straight into the B category after a stellar season.
Meanwhile, wicket-keepers Taniya Bhatia and Arundhati Reddy are the other major exclusions from the contracts list.
Contracted Players
Grade A (INR 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma
Grade B (INR 30 lakh): Renuka Singh Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Grade C (INR 10 lakh):Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia
