Rahane, Pujara may not retain Grade A contract

New Delhi, Jan. 20: Veteran batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane’s position in group A of the BCCI central contracts could be up for deliberation when the board finalises its fresh list of contracted players for the upcoming season in a few days’ time.

Another big question is whether the BCCI top brass is in a mood to upgrade two future captaincy contenders — KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant — alongside Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah in the elite A+ category.

The BCCI has four categories — A+, A, B and C — which carry annual retainership of `7 crore, `5 crore, `3 crore and `1 crore respectively.

Normally, it is the three office-bearers, five selectors and the national head coach, who decide retainerships.

As of now, there won’t be massive changes to the 28 names that featured in the last list but there could be some serious discussions about the composition of the current groups which were in place last year.

“Obviously, Rohit, Kohli and Bumrah being the three indispensable players across formats would be in A plus category beyond doubt. But now Rahul and Pant are slowly establishing themselves as all-format regulars, so it needs to be seen whether the duo gets promotion or not,” a senior BCCI source said.

But what could be a more debatable issue is Pujara and Rahane’s status after a year of consistent non-performance.

“If the BCCI and head coach (Rahul) Dravid decide to honour the duo and keep them in group A, then it’s a different issue but under normal circumstances, they ideally won’t feature in group A,” the source said.