Shami left out of BCCI annual contracts, Dhawan jumps to A+

Mumbai, March 7 - Seamer Mohammed Shami found himself out of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) 26-member annual contracts system, which saw the addition of a new category. Shami's removal may be a coincidence with the ongoing

Former captain and talismanic wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was placed in the A category and will take home Rs 5 crore per annum.

Apart from Dhoni, experienced spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wridhhiman Saha -- all Test regulars -- are also in the A category.

The likes of Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav are in the B category, under which the players will take Rs 3 crore. Yuzvendra Chahal has jumped a category to be in B.

Karun Nair, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Parthiv Patel, Jayant Yadav remain in the C category.

Meanwhile, 19 women cricketers have been given contracts across three categories. In the A category, Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will get Rs 50 lakh each per year.

The players in the B category will get Rs 30 lakh. A new C category has been declared, with the players in this category standing to earn Rs 10 lakh per year.

The likes of Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht and Rajeshwari Gayakwad are in the B category.

Sushma Verma, Punam Raut and teenager Jemimah Rodrigues are in the C category.

The BCCI also sanctioned the creation of a Players Revenue / Compensation Equalization Fund" (PR/CEF) to which it will contribute approximately Rs 125 crore per annum from its surplus in order to insulate the player compensation as the income of the board fluctuates on an annual basis depending on the number of home matches Team India (senior men) plays.

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IANS