Dravid retains Grade A Contract

[Sachinism]

Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath, who have been widely labelled as the future of Indian cricket, were the biggest gainers in the BCCI's annual players' contracts list that was announced today. While the young trio moved up from Grade D (Rs 15 lakh) to Grade B (Rs 40 lakh), Rahul Dravid, who has been struggling for form over the last season, was retained in Grade A, the top bracket of Rs 60 lakh. Other promotions for 2008-09 were on expected lines with VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag stepping up from Grade B to join Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Dravid. Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel and Suresh Raina have also climbed a rank higher from Grade C (Rs 25 lakh) in the list of 37 cricketers. Despite speculation that new performance-based clauses would be introduced this time, Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief admistrative officer told Cricinfo that "there has been no change to the graded system that was in place last year". He said a board committee comprising Shashank Manohar, its president, N Srinivasan, the secretary and Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of national selectors, prepared the latest list, which is valid up to September 30, 2009. "The committee picked players based on the performances in the last season [2007-08]," said Shetty. While Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar no longer figure on the new list, a notable drop is that of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik's, from Grade B to Grade D, which is for fringe players. S Sreesanth, who missed most of last season due to an injury, also fell a tier down to Grade C while Robin Uthappa was downgraded to Grade D. Aakash Chopra, the former India opener who was the highest domestic run-getter last season, is a prominent omission. Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble were also among the absentees on the list after retiring from international cricket last month. Last year, the contracts process had generated some debate with the BCCI planning to introduce performance-related clauses after India's World Cup debacle in the West Indies. However, the board finally stuck to the graded system after discussions with senior players. With no change in the format once again, the players were not part of the contracts finalization process this time, officials said. Grade A (Rs 60 lakh) Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh Grade B (Rs 40 lakh) RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, S Badrinath, Irfan Pathan Grade C (Rs 25 lakh) Piyush Chawla, Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, S Sreesanth Grade D (Rs 15 lakh) Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Gony, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Chetanya Nanda, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhiwan, Sudeep Tyagi ----- Does that say, he won't be dropped any time soon even if form is bad?

[h4te]

:whack: what the ****? WHY?

[Chandan]

Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and S Badrinath, who have been widely labelled as the future of Indian cricket, were the biggest gainers in the BCCI's annual players' contracts list that was announced today.

Does this mean that Badrinath is the next middle order batsman, if there is a vacancy? Tough times for India ahead!

[King Tendulkar]

Well ganguly had an A grade contract when he was not even in sqquads for a year, no big deal. This will have no bearing on his selection or non selection

[Show_stopper]

Absolutely agree with you there..infact i can't see him sticking around(was there ever a phrase more apt?) for long.Utmost one series after this one.

[Anakin]

If he fails in the next match I'd guess RD will take a break soon himself. He's not selfish by any means, and I'm sure he's feeling horrible for not being able to score even though he still believes he can. He should retain the grade A contract.

[Show_stopper]

^ if he takes a break..i can't see how he would make it back or why selectors would not prefer to look ahead..all that assuming his replacement doesn't come good(which can't be ruled out).

[DomainK]

There is a good possibility that he will hot form again after spending a few matches in domestic cricket. So giving him an A contract makes sense. But he should not be in the playing 11 in the next match. Send him to domestic for some months.

[Shane]

Retaining the Grade A contract doesnt necesarily indicate an automatic selection, it means a mere extension of his earlier contract similar to dadi, well i think this Test will be India's last for sometime, meanwhile RD can get his much needed match practice and form back and gear up for Kiwiland

[Shane]

There is a good possibility that he will hot form again after spending a few matches in domestic cricket. So giving him an A contract makes sense. But he should not be in the playing 11 in the next match. Send him to domestic for some months.

In complete agreement Dom, :two_thumbs_up:

[Fontaine]

Interesting. BBC's website had a different spin on it: India discuss future with Dravid http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/other_international/india/7785175.stm

[Show_stopper]

C'mon Dravid..do the right thing.The stage is set for you to walk away after Mohali.What is there left to achieve,i wonder? Must he suffer these insults and constant criticism? What is even more painful for me is the fact that he is holding the team back.

[Sachinism]

He should play domestic cricket, even if his replacement plays well, theres a good chance Rahul will be picked for overseas tours if he has been scoring runs in domestic

[Ram]

Ishant Sharma at grade B.. Thats a joke.

[vadodaravictor]

Looks like confidence shown in Dravid by BCCI is extra ordinary. Grading someone A when his spot in team is questionable is sending wrong message. Nothing against Dravid, but downgrading him would be a right thing to do here.

[Cricketics]

Ishant Sharma at grade B.. Thats a joke.

has hardly played enough cricket to get into A contract that easily. it's good. it will keep him down to earth, which he has been till now

[fineleg]

ishant sharma has hardly played enough cricket to get into A contract that easily. it's good. it will keep him down to earth, which he has been till now

agree

[Ram]

has hardly played enough cricket to get into A contract that easily. it's good. it will keep him down to earth, which he has been till now

He's played for more than a year now and has been instrumental in taking our team to where it has been. And if you look at the other names in Grade B, not a single one of them have played as much cricket as Ishant has done in the last 14 months or have even remotely come close to having the same impact as Ishant has had, on the fortunes of the Indian cricket team. Not that Ishant will be too worried though, he's already a millionaire. 20 lakh rupees isnt something he's going to lose his midnight sleep over.

[Ram]

And very disappointed at not seeing either Rahane or Dhawal Kulkarni in Grade D.

[umpire]

I hope for sake of Dravid, Karnataka can reach Quarter Final and that will give dravid atleast a game against strong in form teams.