Who is the biggest achiever?
Pant is currently vying for a spot in India’s World Cup squad. He is part of Grade A, which comes with a retainer worth INR 5 crore. Besides Pant, the category includes R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav.
What are the other significant changes?
Currently out of contention. Vijay was omitted after the second Test in Perth in December, having failed to make an impact upon his return. He lost his Test spot to debutant Agarwal, who incidentally replaced the injured Shaw. Earlier in 2018, Vijay was dropped after the second Test at Lord’s. Shaw scored a century on Test debut against West Indies and followed it up with a half-century in his next outing.
Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal – Are they included?
What about Wriddhiman Saha?
Having missed a significant portion of cricket in 2018 due to injuries, Saha, who only recently resumed playing, has been moved from Grade A to Grade C. There have been some new additions to Grade C as well: Ambati Rayudu, Hanuma Vihari and Khaleel Ahmed.
Who have fallen out of favor?
In addition to Vijay, Axar Patel, Karun Nair, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel and Jayant Yadav – all part of Grade C last time – have been omitted. Among them, Nair and Jayant did not feature in a single international game during the contracted period.
What’s the status of Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul?
The two players, who were briefly suspended by the CoA for their alleged misconduct on a TV chat show, will continue to be part of Grade B (INR 3 crore). On Thursday, the CoA requested Justice DK Jain, the newly-appointed BCCI ombudsman, to investigate the allegations against Pandya and Rahul. According to the BCCI constitution, the ombudsman has the final authority to arbitrate on such matters. Pandya is currently not part of the ongoing ODI series against Australia due to a back injury, but his standing has steadily improved over the last 18 months with the management endorsing him to play in all three formats as the primary allrounder.