All-rounder Deepti Sharma is a new entrant to BCCI’s highest bracket of annual retainers worth Rs 50 lakh — Grade A — alongside Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur for 2022-23.
Leg spinner Poonam Yadav, who was in the highest bracket of the May 2021 central contracts, has been omitted along with the retired pair of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami.
Shikha Pandey, who earned a recall after 15 months ahead of this year’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, has also been left out.
The Grade B list, which had 10 players previously, has been pruned to five, with Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh, who were last time handed Grade C deals, being the new entrants. The others include Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Grade B has an annual retainership of Rs 30 lakh.
Grade C, worth Rs 10 lakh, has nine players from six previously. This includes first-timers — fast bowlers Meghna Singh and Anjali Sarvani, all-rounders Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana and Devika Vaidya and battersS. Meghana, Yastika Bhatia and Harleen Deol. All-rounder Radha Yadav, who was earlier in Grade B, is also part of this group.
The women players now earn the same match fee as their male counterparts — Rs 15 lakh per Test, Rs 6 lakh per ODI and Rs 3 lakh for a T20I.
