Senior opener Shikhar Dhawan, in all likelihood, has been dropped from the top most category of the latest Central Contracts list for India players, while young Rishabh Pant was rewarded with an entry into the A category, reported PTI.
The BCCI has not released the list officially as three CoA members have not yet signed.
The Elite list is set to comprise only three players –-skipper Virat Kohli, his limited overs deputy Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, added the report.
Dhawan, who is no longer a part of the Test set-up, is also in the middle of a poor run in the limited overs format, and hence has been reportedly demoted from A-plus to A category.
The A-plus category players get a yearly retainer fee of Rs 7 crore. The retainer for A category is Rs 5 crore.
The PTI report added that along with Dhawan, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has also fallen off the radar as an all-format player, is also not in the elite list. The list has, thus, been trimmed from five to three.
Pant, the young wicketkeeper batsman, has been rewarded for his good show in Test cricket and has jumped directly into A group after not being in the central contract list last time around.
Pant scored Test hundreds in England and Australia and has been ear-marked to take on the mantle from Mahendra Singh Dhoni once he retires from limited overs.
Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, despite their recent off-field controversies, are likely to continue to be in B category.
A report on ESPNCricinfo added that Cheteshwar Pujara will remain in the A category in the latest set of contracts that will run from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
