BCCI central contracts: Deepti Sharma & Rajeshwari Gayakwad make gains

BCCI central contracts: Deepti Sharma & Rajeshwari Gayakwad make gains

The BCCI’s decision for the 2021-22 season, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad have been promoted to Grade A in the central contracts for women’s cricketers. With a contractual entitlement of INR 50 lakh and a Grade A status, Deepti Sharma, the 24-year-old all-rounder excelled and is promoted to Grade A. Likewise, Gayakwad (30) from Karnataka gets the top spot on the contracts list, followed by Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav. There will be 30 lakh rupees and 10 lakh rupees annually for Grade B and C players.

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BCCI finalized the list of 17 players at Wednesday’s Apex Council meeting. Sneh Rana, who was in Grade C last year, made it to Grade B, while Pooja Vasstrakar was promoted from Grade C to B. Having recently returned to Indian cricket, Vastrakar has been a consistent all-rounder and has taken on the role of a finisher. Indian Women’s ODI team captain Mithali Raj and pacer bowler Jhulan Goswami are re-assigned to Grade B; however, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey have been downgraded to Grade C from Grade B.

The new entrant in this year’s list is Sneh Rana, who earned Grade C after making a comeback last June after five years away from the game. Young sensation Shafali Verma has been promoted to Grade B from Grade C, where she earned her first annual contract last year. Several people have lost their annual contracts for 2020-21, including Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht, Anuja Patil, and D Hemalatha. Mansi Joshi as well as Radha Yadav, who featured last year, are missing this time around.

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Women’s cricket is having an important year with the 50-over World Cup starting in New Zealand on March 4. The BCCI is also considering starting a women’s version of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which was discussed recently by its governing council. There are plans for a women’s IPL to launch next year if all goes according to plan.

BCCI Women’s Central Contracts

Grade A (INR 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Grade B (INR 30 lakh): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Tanya Bhatia, Shafali Verma, Pooja Vastrakar

Grade C (INR 10 lakh): Poonam Raut, Shikha Pandey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana

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