Veteran former India captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been handed Grade B contracts by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 2025/26. While the pair have been included in the topmost A+ bracket for most of their illustrious careers, both Rohit and Kohli are now active only in one format after they retired from T20Is in 2024 and Tests last year. Meanwhile, the A+ contract bracket has been scrapped altogether and the only male players in the top-most Grade A are Test captain Shubman Gill, ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Meanwhile, four women players have been awarded Grade A contracts: captain Harmanpreet Kaur, batters Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues and all-rounder Deepti Sharma. 🚨 News 🚨 BCCI announces Annual Player Retainership for Team India Senior Men and Senior Women for the 2025-26 season#TeamIndia | Details 🔽https://t.co/Rd3pUCPRr9 pic.twitter.com/UNYRThs1kW — BCCI (@BCCI) February 9, 2026 Among those who have been handed Grade B contracts in the men’s team includes India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, who is currently leading the side in the 2026 T20 World Cup while his vice-captain Axar Patel has been included in Grade C. Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar have all been handed Grade B contracts as well. Meanwhile, only four women players have been included in Grade B – Renuka Thakur, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana. A notable exclusion from the list is veteran fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who had been included in Grade B last year. While he has been as active as ever in domestic cricket, Shami hasn’t played for India since the 2025 Champions Trophy final in March. Kohli, meanwhile, ended his illustrious Test career in May last year. Rohit Sharma had retired from the format as captain of the team just a few days before that. While both players were suffering from indifferent form in Tests in their last few matches, they have both hit top form in ODIs since. Kohli in particular scored 616 runs in nine matches in India’s 2025/26 season with three centuries at an average of 88.00.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli demoted in latest BCCI Contract list, just three men’s players in Grade A
