Windfall for cricketers: BCCI announces fatter annual players contracts; Jadeja, Pujara, Vijay elevated

New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced annual Men players contracts, enhances retainer and match fee amounts.

As reported earlier, mercurial Ravindra Jadeja, along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay, has recieved a promotion. The trio has been included in the Grade A category.

NEWS ALERT - BCCI announces annual Men players contracts, enhances retainer and match fee amounts #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/HXvBE2JrB8 — BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2017

The top category already has Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane.

The retainership for this grade is now INR 2 crore, double what was previously offered.It's Rs. 1 crore and Rs. 50 lakh respectively for Grade B and Grade C.

The match fees enhancements will be effective from the period starting October 1, 2016, and Rs 15 lakhs per Test, Rs 6 lakhs per ODI and Rs 3 lakhs for T20 International will be paid to the players.

Here are the grades:

Grade A: Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay

Grade A - Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, M Vijay (Annual retainer amount - INR 2 Cr) pic.twitter.com/QFOKeSA9Zj — BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2017

Grade B: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuvraj Singh

Grade B - Rohit, KL Rahul, Bhuvneshwar, Shami, Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Saha, Bumrah, Yuvraj (Annual retainer amount - INR 1 Cr) #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/fQVKA3JZ9R — BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2017

Grade C: Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav, Mandeep Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shardul Thakur, Rishabh Pant

Grade C- Shikhar, Rayudu, Amit Mishra, Manish, Axar, Karun, Hardik, Nehra, Kedar, Chahal, Parthiv, Jayant, Mandeep, Dhawal, Shardul, Rishabh

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2017

Match Fee enhancement will be effective from Oct 1, 2016 - Rs 15 lakhs per Test, Rs 6 lakhs per ODI and Rs 3 lakhs for T20I will be paid pic.twitter.com/XIN29exPan — BCCI (@BCCI) March 22, 2017

One player who will considered unlucky to have missed the contract is Suresh Raina. Regarded India's limited overs' specialist, the 30-year-old failed to find a place in any of the annual contracts.

In contract, Shardul Thakur, who is yet to make his India debut, has been given a Grade C contract. Yes, he is the lone uncapped player in the list.

The finalisation of the contracts was made on the first day of two-day Committee of Administrators (COA) meets in Delhi.

COA is a temporary body appointed by the Supreme Court on January 30 to run the affairs of the BCCI and implement court-approved recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha panel on reforms in the cash-rich cricket body.

Headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai, it has famous cricket historian Ramachandra Guha, Managing Director of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) Vikram Limaye and former Indian women cricket captain Diana Edulji as members.