Era change in Team India: Kohli-Rohit’s grade dropped, Shubman Gill became the new Sultan:

News India Live, Digital Desk: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has released the new contract list of players for the 2025-26 season. This time the list has surprised the cricket world. The board has not only hinted at abolishing the decades-long ‘A+’ category, but has also shifted stalwarts like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma down from the top bracket. Now the command and influence of Team India seems to be going into the hands of the ‘new generation’.

1. Rohit-Virat’s demotion: Why were they demoted?

So far Grade A+ (₹7 crore) Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were part of this year Grade B Has been placed in. The main reason behind this is to reduce their format. Rohit and Virat have now distanced themselves from formats like T20 and Test (as per reports in Rohit’s case). According to BCCI policy, only the player who is active in all three formats is entitled to the top grade.

2. Shubman Gill’s ‘Promotion’: Becomes the new poster boy

New captain of Test and ODI team Shubhman Gill Now he has officially emerged as the most powerful player of Team India. Them Grade A Has been promoted in. Along with him, only two more players have been able to make it to this top bracket—Yorker King. Jasprit Bumrah and allrounder Ravindra Jadeja.

3. New grading system and salary (estimated)

According to reports, this time 30 players have been given contracts. Depending on the grade, annual earnings may be something like this:

Grade A (₹5-7 crore): Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja.

Grade B (₹3 crore): Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Shreyas Iyer.

Grade C (₹1 crore): Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh, Abhishek Sharma, Dhruv Jurel, Sarfaraz Khan, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep (total 16 players).

4. Ishan Kishan returns and Shami is dismissed!

Another big news from this list Ishan Kishan This is the return of , who was dropped last year due to not playing domestic cricket. He has now returned to Grade C. At the same time, the senior pacer is suffering from injury. Mohammed Shami This time he has been kept out of the list, which can be a big sign for his career.