Mumbai: In-form batter Shreyas Iyer is set to regain his BCCI central contract when the top brass of the Indian cricket board announces the full list of retained players for the 2024-25 season sometime this week.
It’s learnt that the BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia will meet India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, currently vacationing in France with his family after leading India to victory in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy and chief selector Ajit Agarkar in Guwahati on March 29 for a discussion on the central contracts.
Guwahati is set to host the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings on March 30, a day after these discussions.
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The BCCI announced the India women’s cricketers’ contracts three days ago.
While Iyer is set to get back his BCCI central contract, things are not that certain for Ishan Kishan, who too had been excluded from the list of players with central contracts for the 2023-24 season last year, given that both players skipped domestic matches despite clear instructions from the apex Indian cricketing body.
“Shreyas is set to regain his contract, and it will be in a top category. However, discussions are still ongoing on whether in Ishan’s case,” a source told TOI.
Iyer was the highest run-getter for India in in India’s victorious campaign in the 2025 Champions Trophy recently, scoring 243 runs in five matches at 48.60, with two fifties, and is an integral part of India’s ODI side, while Kishan made a sensational debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL-2025 on March 23, smashing 106 not out off just 47 balls against Rajasthan Royals.
The other big point of discussion has been whether India’s ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma, superstar batsman Virat Kohli and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja will be retained in the highest A+ category of central contracts, despite having retired from T20Is.
However, a source in the BCCI informed that “all three will be retained in the highest category, along with Jasprit Bumrah.”
Rohit, of course, is slated to lead India on their five-Test tour of England this summer.
Axar may be promoted, Varun, Abhishek & NKR set to get maiden BCCI contracts
Meanwhile, left-arm spinning allrounder Axar Patel, who has grown in stature over the last few years and is now the vice-captain of India’s T20 side, is likely to be promoted from Grade B to Grade A. He played key roles in India’s two ICC title wins in the last two years.
Meanwhile, “Mystery spinner” Varun Chakravarthy, who made a successful return to the Indian team last October and played a stellar role in India winning the 2025 Champions Trophy with nine wickets to his name in just three matches, is set to bag his maiden BCCI contract.
Also set to receive their first BCCI central contracts will be young allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was impressive in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he played all five Tests in the series and cracked his maiden hundred in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and young opener Abhishek Sharma, who smashed a phenomenal 135 off just 54 balls against England in the fifth and final T20I at the Wankhede Stadium on Feb 2 this year.
The name of former off-spinning great Ravichandran Ashwin, who retired during India’s tour of Australia last winter, will be naturally removed from the list of BCCI’s centrally-contracted players after he announced his international retirement last year during the Australia tour.
Get the latest IPL 2025 updates on Times of India, including match schedules, team squads, points table and IPL live score for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Don’t miss the list of players in the race for IPL Orange Cap and IPL Purple cap.
