Calcutta: Former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior pro Ravichandran Ashwin were relegated to Category A in the annual contracts announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday.

The newly introduced A+ category has five players, including captain Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. The top bracket also has Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, who are regulars in the limited-overs side, but are not confirmed for the Test XI.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami's name has been withheld after allegations linked to domestic strife.

The central contracts mark a departure from last year when Test specialists were mainly kept in the top category. Dhoni has retired from the longer version while Ashwin has not featured in the one-day and T20 formats since the Champions Trophy in England last year.

Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay find themselves in Category A after having been among the best-paid Indian cricketers last year.

Yuvraj Singh and Rishabh Pant have been omitted even as Suresh Raina makes a comeback.

Shami, who recently played the Deodhar Trophy in Dharamsala, tweeted on Wednesday that the allegations were "absolutely false" and a "conspiracy" to defame him and hurt his game.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators announced the annual contracts for the period October 2017 to September 2018.

Under the new compensation system, players in Category A+ will earn Rs 7 crore per year. The annual retainership for Grade A has been raised to Rs 5 crore from Rs 2 crore last year while Grade B and Grade C players will earn Rs 3 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively, instead of Rs 1 crore and Rs 50 lakh last year.

The BCCI has trimmed the list of players from 32 to 26.

Kuldeep Yadav, who has formed a formidable spin combination with Yuzvendra Chahal in limited-overs cricket, was a notable new face. He joined Chahal in Category B. Chahal jumped from Category C to B, a reward for his match-winning performances in limited-overs cricket.

Jayant Yadav is the only name on the contract list whose inclusion has raised a few eyebrows. The off-spinner, who last played for India in a Test in February last year, has been included in Category C.

Wednesday's contracts announcement comes a few months after the Committee of Administrators met Kohli, Dhoni and head coach Ravi Shastri, in the presence of BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, to discuss players' salaries and the schedule.