Dhawan-Rahul demoted, Bhuvi-Rahane left out; BCCI announces Central Contract list for 2022-23

On Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced a new list of players who got the "Central Contract" for 2022–2023. The list has some new faces on it, and some got bigger contracts while others were not even considered.

The list saw star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja upgraded to an A+ contract for his consistent performance across all three formats. One notable demotion was that of former Indian vice captain KL Rahul, who got demoted to B from A. However, a few others also got completely left out.

Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Wriddhiman Saha, and Hanuma Vihari were the ones who didn't get any contracts. Notably, Shah, Rahane, and Ishant are no longer part of the Indian scheme of things anymore. Bhuvi did play some games, including the 2022 T20 World Cup, but was then sidelined from the Indian schedule.

However, Deepak Chahar, who seems to be a promising talent, has been struggling from injuries, which is one of the main reasons for him missing out on the central contract. Meanwhile, Vihari, who was a key member of the Indian team not long ago, has also been left out.

The likes of Deepak Hooda, KS Bharat, and Arshdeep Singh are the new faces to get the central contract and have received a "C" grade category. But the veteran Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan has also been demoted to the Grade C category, which comes as a surprise to many.

Dhawan was a key member of the Indian team most recently and led India to multiple series, but it seems that he has lost his place in the team now. But keeping him in Grade C indicates that BCCI has still kept him in their scheme of things.

Grade A+ (INR 7 Crore) : Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah,

Grade A (INR 5 Crore) : Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami

Grade B (INR 3 Crore) : Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Shubman Gill

Grade C (INR 1 Crore) : Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat