9 players who earned a BCCI contract for the first time ever
The BCCI announced the annual contracts for the 2016-17 season earlier in March. The notable takeaways include the fact that the annual retainer on all three categories was doubled and that the match fees for all three formats saw an increase.
For the players, Ravindra Jadeja saw a massive promotion to the Grade A category, where he now sits along with Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin amongst others. Whereas, the likes of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh were left without contracts.
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This year saw the BCCI recognizing Test specialists and awarding them a better contract than specialists of the other formats. The previous year also saw a number of players making their debuts for team India, and thus there are 9 players who earned their first ever BCCI contract.
With the exception of Shardul Thakur, all these players have played for India once at the least.
Shardul Thakur – Grade C
25-year-old Shardul Thakur is an aggressive seamer who opens the bowling for his Ranji side Mumbai along with Dhawal Kulkarni. He has been on the fringes of the Indian side ever since the 2014-15 Ranji season. The bowler is the only uncapped player on the list, speaking volumes of his promise.
He was in the Indian squad for the tours of Zimbabwe and West Indies but never made his debut for the side. In 49 first-class games for Mumbai, he has picked up 169 wickets at an average of just over 28 while conceding just over 3 runs an over.
You might see him eased into the Indian side with a couple of T20Is first.