<p>Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was rewarded with the elite grade A plus retainership, while Axar Patel got promoted to A category as the BCCI announced the annual contracts on Sunday.</p>.<p>The 34-year-old Jadeja, who was joint Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, was one of the four players to be placed in the A plus category, along with skipper Rohit Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli and injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah.</p>.<p>Top-order batter KL Rahul got demoted to Grade B after a string of poor performances.</p>.<p>Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma didn't get a contract as BCCI handed retainership to 26 cricketers in four groups of A plus (Rs 7 crore), A (Rs 5 crore), B (Rs 3 crore) and C (Rs 1 crore).</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/anti-corruption-unit-in-bcci-needs-to-be-restructured-neeraj-kumar-1197443.html" target="_blank">Anti-Corruption Unit in BCCI needs to be restructured: Neeraj Kumar</a></strong></p>.<p>It seems curtains for the veteran trio, who have been dropped from the contract list, signalling that they are no longer in the reckoning for the national team.</p>.<p>Spin all-rounder Axar had plenty to be happy about as he was promoted to A category, while wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat also landed a maiden central contract after being included in Group C.</p>.<p>Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is recovering after undergoing treatment for his injuries following a horror crash in December last year, remains in A category, which also includes Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.</p>.<p>There were six cricketers in Group B, including Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar yadav and Shubman Gill.</p>.<p>The Group C comprises 11 cricketers -- Umesh yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, besides Bharat.</p>.<p>The elite A plus category has players who are a sure shot candidate for all three formats, while 'A' comprises cricketers who are certainties for Tests and one-dayers. Players who are considered for limited-over cricket are in Group B, while C group players are generally considered for one of the three formats regularly.</p>
<p>Star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was rewarded with the elite grade A plus retainership, while Axar Patel got promoted to A category as the BCCI announced the annual contracts on Sunday.</p>.<p>The 34-year-old Jadeja, who was joint Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, was one of the four players to be placed in the A plus category, along with skipper Rohit Sharma, former captain Virat Kohli and injured pacer Jasprit Bumrah.</p>.<p>Top-order batter KL Rahul got demoted to Grade B after a string of poor performances.</p>.<p>Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma didn't get a contract as BCCI handed retainership to 26 cricketers in four groups of A plus (Rs 7 crore), A (Rs 5 crore), B (Rs 3 crore) and C (Rs 1 crore).</p>.<p><strong>Also Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/anti-corruption-unit-in-bcci-needs-to-be-restructured-neeraj-kumar-1197443.html" target="_blank">Anti-Corruption Unit in BCCI needs to be restructured: Neeraj Kumar</a></strong></p>.<p>It seems curtains for the veteran trio, who have been dropped from the contract list, signalling that they are no longer in the reckoning for the national team.</p>.<p>Spin all-rounder Axar had plenty to be happy about as he was promoted to A category, while wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat also landed a maiden central contract after being included in Group C.</p>.<p>Star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is recovering after undergoing treatment for his injuries following a horror crash in December last year, remains in A category, which also includes Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.</p>.<p>There were six cricketers in Group B, including Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar yadav and Shubman Gill.</p>.<p>The Group C comprises 11 cricketers -- Umesh yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, besides Bharat.</p>.<p>The elite A plus category has players who are a sure shot candidate for all three formats, while 'A' comprises cricketers who are certainties for Tests and one-dayers. Players who are considered for limited-over cricket are in Group B, while C group players are generally considered for one of the three formats regularly.</p>