Pant promoted, Iyer and Kishan return as BCCI announce central contracts

Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan have returned to the Board of Control for Cricket in India's central contract list for the national men's team, announced by the board on Monday. Seven players have been handed the BCCI central contract for the first time. The contracts will be valid from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025.

The 34-player list has retained the earlier format, with players being slotted into four categories - A+, A, B and C. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah continue to be retained in the A+ category. The BCCI release didn't include fast bowling contracts, which were handed last year.

In the A category, there's a new inclusion with Rishabh Pant finding an escalation. The wicketkeeper, who was in Category B in last season's contract, has been clubbed alongside Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Shami. R Ashwin is the only exclusion from category A since he retired from international cricket earlier this year.

Iyer, who was found a place again in the contract list, has been slotted in Category B, which apart from Pant, retains the same look, with Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yashasvi Jaiswal finding a place.

Category C is where the most shuffle has happened. Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, KS Bharath and Avesh Khan - who were in Category C last season - have been left out of the contract list altogether. Meanwhile, , Nitish Reddy, Abhishek Sharma and Harshit Rana are among those who have been handed a contract. The category also includes Dhruv Jurel, Sarafraz Khan, Ishan Kishan and Varun Chakaravarthy. Akash Deep, who had a fast bowling contract last year, has also been promoted with a central contract and placed in this category.

Meanwhile, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa, all of whom had a fast bowling contract, have been left out of this year's list altogether.

: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja

: Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya

: Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

: Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Washington Sundar, Mukesh Kumar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Rajat Patidar, Dhruv Jurel, Sarafraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Akash Deep, Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana

: Dhruv Jurel, Sarafraz Khan, Nitish Reddy, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana, Shreyas Iyer, Akash Deep

: Shardul Thakur, Jitesh Sharma, KS Bharath, Avesh Khan, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Umran Malik, Yash Dayal and Vidwath Kaverappa

: Rishabh (From Category B to A)

: R Ashwin