BCCI announces enhanced retainership for top players

NEW DELHI: Putting an end to the long drawn negotiations on the contentious contracts issue, the BCCI on Thursday announced an enhanced annual retainership amount for a pool of 33 players with top grade cricketers being offered a whopping Rs 60 lakhs.
   
Having already showered the Twenty20 World Cup winning team with hefty cash incentives, the Board carried its magnamity onto the central contracts as well by increasing the retainership amount in existing three categories while also introducing a fourth grade.
   
Paceman Zaheer Khan was the lone new name in the elite Grade A, which will get Rs 60 lakhs as retainership, an increase of Rs 10 lakhs from the earlier contract.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh and current ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni were the others in the Grade A while there were eight players in Grade B which had a retainership amount of Rs 40 lakhs.

VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, S Sreesanth, Dinesh Kaarthick, R P Singh and Virender Sehwag have been clubbed in Grade B, which has also seen a hike of Rs 5 lakhs.

Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina are the players who find a place in Grade C which has a retainership of Rs 25 lakhs.