Grade B
15. KL Rahul – ₹3 Crores
The Karnataka-batsman had an extremely difficult second half of 2018. Rahul failed to perform on the field despite getting many opportunities. Moreover his sexist comments on the talkshow ‘Koffee With Karan’ added salt to injury.
As a result he was banned from playing cricket for some time. After his ban was lifted he was fortunate enough to get his place back in the team. He will now be looking to make the most of the opportunities given to him. Rahul has retained the same contract from his previous year.
16. Umesh Yadav – ₹3 Crores
The pacer from Vidarbha has always been inconsistent in his entire career. However it is not entirely his fault either. Even after performing well in the last few years, Umesh has got limited opportunities. The sudden call-ups and then ignoring him later affected his career.
Moreover Umesh never got much backup from the team management. After one of two poor show, he has always been dropped from the squad. Thus keeping in mind of the various intricacies, the BCCI has decided to not alter Umesh’s contract.
17. Yuzvendra Chahal – ₹3 Crores
Many had thought that Chahal would bag a ‘Grade A’ contract like his spin-twin Kuldeep. But that didn’t happen as Chahal didn’t play much Test cricket. He has only played limited-overs format.
Even there he didn’t play much games because of team’s rotation policy with the spinners. However the leggie hasn’t missed any opportunity when his services were needed. He retained his contract this year and might go for more next year with some eye-catching performances.
18. Hardik Pandya – ₹3 Crores
Hardik’s contract improvement definitely got halted because of his injury spell. Pandya got injured in September 2018 during the Asia Cup and was ruled out for two months. He was scheduled to make a comeback in the Australia series, but that didn’t happen due to off-field controversy.
Pandya made some sexist comments on the talkshow ‘Koffee With Karan’. As a result he was banned from playing cricket. He got back into the team in the New Zealand tour after his ban was lifted. But once again injury halted his progress and he was ruled out from the home series against Australia.
*Exclusions – Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Dinesh Karthik