BCCI announces annual contract list for India Women; Shafali Verma promoted
The Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday announced the Annual Player Contracts for the Indian Women‘s Cricket team. A total of 19 players have been handed central contracts, which is three lesser than last year’s tally of 22.
The contracts for women have been classified into three categories with the players in Grade A receiving Rs 50 lakh, Grade B receiving 30 lakhs, and Grade C 10 lakh. The top-grade has been kept unchanged with T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and spinner Poonam Yadav being retained in Grade A. ODI captain Mithali Raj along with veteran Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues have been given a Grade B contract.
Shafali gets promoted
Teenage sensation Shafali Verma, who earned her maiden annual contract last year, has been promoted to Grade B from C as have Raut and Gayakwad. Meanwhile, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht, Anuja Patil and D Hemalatha have missed out this time.
India women have started arriving in Mumbai for their 2-week long quarantine period in the lead up to the England tour. The tour will kickstart from June 16 and comprises three ODIs from June 27 to July 3. Both teams will then proceed for as many T20Is, which will be played from July 9 to 15.
Shafali Verma has earned her maiden call up for both Tests and ODI squads, while both Taniya Bhatiya and Shikha Pandey will be making a comeback after being ignored for the home series against South Africa earlier this year. Uncapped wicketkeep-batter Indrani Roy has also earned her maiden call-up.
India Women’s Annual Contracts 2020-21
Grade A: INR 50 Lakh – Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav
Grade B: INR 30 Lakh – Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, and Jemimah Rodrigues.
Grade C: INR 10 Lakh – Mansi Joshi, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, and Richa Ghosh.
