Former Indian cricket team captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who now participate in only one international format, have been shifted to Category B in the BCCI’s central contracts for the 2025-26 season. This change reflects a downgrade from their previous top-tier status in the newly introduced grading system. The contracts, effective from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026, feature only three players in Category A.
In Category A, we find Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who currently holds the title of India’s most experienced active Test cricketer. Notably, the BCCI has eliminated the A+ category from the previous cycle, where Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, and Jadeja were all positioned. This adjustment makes Gill the most significant mover, having assumed captaincy of both the Test and ODI teams from Rohit in the previous year.
Category B now includes T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and senior players such as Rishabh Pant (Test vice-captain), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj. Comparatively, the BCCI appears to have merged the former Grades A and B into a single middle tier for the 2025-26 season, with Washington notably benefiting from this alteration.
