Shreyas Iyer set to retain BCCI central contract: Report

Shreyas Iyer

India ODI star and Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer is poised to regain his central contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the 2024–25 season.

After a meeting between BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, head coach Gautam Gambhir, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar in Guwahati on March 29, the board is expected to release the updated list of men's contracts "sometime this week," according to a report in The Times of India.

Shreyas and Ishan Kishan were not given central contracts last year. It was reported that the BCCI was upset with them for not playing for Mumbai and Jharkhand respectively in domestic matches when they were away from the national team.

Because the BCCI mandates that men's players play three Test matches, eight ODIs, or ten T20Is in a calendar year in order to be eligible for the central contracts for the next season, Kishan's case is probably going to be more difficult.

Since late 2023, Kishan has not participated in any international cricket matches.

“Shreyas is set to regain his contract, and it will be in a top category. However, discussions are still ongoing on whether in Ishan’s case," the report cited a source as saying.

Iyer's year has been excellent overall. In addition to winning numerous domestic trophies for Mumbai and the IPL 2024 championship with the Kolkata Knight Riders, he was India's top run scorer in the 2025 Champions Trophy.

There are four pay grades for the contracts. Each player in the A-Plus category receives Rs 7 crore, followed by A, where they receive Rs 5 crore, and Grade B and C players, who receive Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.

According to the report, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja would remain in the A-Plus group despite some rumors.

Because the A-Plus category was often designated for all-format players and all three of them have quit from T20Is, some reports had raised doubts about it.

Additionally, the report stated that this cycle will see the first central contracts awarded to Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy and Nitish Kumar Reddy.