The Board Of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced annual player contracts for India Women on 19 May. The number of contracted cricketers this time is 19, three fewer than last year’s 22.
Rising youngster Shafali Verma has earned a jump to Grade B. On the other hand, familiar faces like Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht, D Hemalatha and Anuja Patil have been omitted.
Krishnamurthy has not played for India since April 2018 in ODIs. Her last T20I appearance came in last year’s T20 World Cup. However, Bisht features in all three squads on the England tour, starting 16 June.
T20I captain and ODI vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, T20I vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and senior leg-spinner Poonam Yadav have all retained Grade A contracts. They will earn INR 50 lakhs each for their services between October 2020 to next 2021.
Along with Shafali, ODI skipper Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues are in the Grade B bracket for INR 30 lakhs.
Raut has also been promoted for her impressive performance against South Africa, in March this year. She notched up two fifties and one hundred in that series.
Richa Ghosh is the only player who has been handed a maiden annual contract. She has earned a Grade C contract of INR 20 lakhs.
The annual contract list for India Women:
Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav.
Grade B: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues.
Grade C: Mansi Joshi, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Richa Ghosh.