Mumbai, Feb 9: Former India captains Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been placed in Category B of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) central contracts for the 2025–26 season, the BCCI announced on Tuesday.

The contracts, valid from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, feature only three players in Category A — Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja. Gill’s elevation reflects his new role as captain of both the Test and ODI teams, while Bumrah and Jadeja remain central to India’s bowling and all round strength.

The BCCI has removed the A+ category that existed in the previous cycle, which had included Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, and Jadeja. The restructuring places Kohli and Rohit, who now feature in only one format, alongside other senior players such as Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mohammed Siraj in Category B.

Category C includes a mix of established and emerging talent, with names such as Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Notably, Axar Patel has been moved down despite his regular presence in white ball formats.

The overall list has been trimmed from 34 players last season to 30, with senior fast bowler Mohammed Shami, Sarfaraz Khan, Rajat Patidar, and Mukesh Kumar dropped. The BCCI has not disclosed financial details of the revised contract categories.

The reshuffle underscores the board’s emphasis on current form and multi format participation, while signalling a generational transition in Indian cricket leadership.

List of BCCI-contracted players for 2025-26

Category A: Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.

Category B: Washington Sundar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer.

Category C: Axar Patel, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Abhishek Sharma, B Sai Sudharsan, Ravi Bishnoi, Ruturaj Gaikwad.