BCCI contract: Bhuvi gets Grade A, Gambhir, Yuvi left in cold

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 22

They found themselves out of favour in the 30-man probables list the selectors drew up for the 2015 World Cup. And on Monday, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir found their names omitted from the BCCI's annual list of contracted players for 2014-15.
Both Yuvraj and Gambhir, integral part of the World Cup winning team in 2011, were handed a Group B contract last year, but a string of poor batting performances in the international and domestic arena led to them being dumped by the board.
The duo joined the infamous list of other World Cup veterans — Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh — who had been dropped from the contracts last year and also did not figure among the WC probables. The message is loud and clear for these old war-horses — the national selectors are clearly looking ahead and want to breed the side with exciting young talent.
This reflected in the BCCI's approach when it announced the 32-strong list of annual 'Graded Retainership'. It has several new faces in Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul, who are yet to make their international debuts, and Parvez Rasool, Dhawal Kulkarni, Axar Patel, Karn Sharma, Stuart Binny and Pankaj Singh.
All the new entrants have been placed in Grade C.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, meanwhile, has joined the elite company of skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, vice-captain Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin in the top bracket, being awarded a Grade A contract.
Bhuvneshwar was promoted from the Grade B contract he had last year following his good showing in the seam-friendly conditions in England, where he claimed 19 wickets from Test innings at 26.63. Mohammad Shami, Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu have all been offered a Grade B contract.The other notable omission are Dinesh Karthik and Jaydev Unadkat.