Twenty20 International captain Harmanpreet Kaur, opener Smriti Mandhana and spinner Poonam Yadav were the only players picked in Board of Control for Cricket in India’s central contracts Grade A list for the senior team.
Veteran Mithali Raj, who was previously among the four players to be in Grade A, is now in Grade B. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia were the notable inclusions in Grade B. Yadav is credited for having a stellar season with the ball in T20 cricket.
There were three new names in the Grade C contracts with dashing opener Shafali Verma, Priya Punia and Harleen Deol making the cut. Verma has been one of the finds of Indian cricket in recent times and recently became the youngest Indian woman to score a half-century.
Central contracts
Grade A (Rs 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav
Grade B (Rs 30 lakh): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia
Grade C (Rs 10 lakh): Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Mansi Joshi, D Hemlatha, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Shafali Verma
Clarification: The list originally mentioned Poonam Raut instead of Poonam Yadav in Grade A. It has now been rectified.