BCCI central contracts: Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues promoted to B category

New Delhi: Young wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues have been elevated to B category in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) central contracts for the 2022-23 season while the likes of Shikha Pandey and Taniya Bhatia have been dropped.

The contract period runs from October to September but the BCCI made the announcement on Thursday.

A player in A category gets paid Rs 50 lakh over and above match fees and Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are allotted for B and C category respectively.

The BCCI has kept only three players in the highest category and they include skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, star batter Smriti Mandhana and all-rounder Deepti Sharma.

All three have been retained in A category while spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has been demoted to B category. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, who was in the A category last year, doesn't have a contract at all after falling down in the pecking order. She last played for India in March, 2022.

Veteran pacer Shikha Pandey, who had made a surprise comeback for the T20 World Cup in South Africa, finds herself without a contract and so does wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia.

Pacer Renuka Thakur, who did not have a contract last year, has been bracketed straight into the B category after a stellar season.

Richa and Jemimah have moved up from C to B category. New entrants in C category include pacer Meghna Singh, batter Devika Vaidya, opener S Meghana, Radha Yadav, left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani and batter Yastika Bhatia.

Harleen Deol and Sneh Rana remain in the lowest category while injury prone all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar has been demoted to C from B.

The BCCI, which announced equal pay for women cricketers last year, has kept the number of contracted players to 17.

Category A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandha and Deepti Sharma.

Category B: Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Category C: Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol and Yastika Bhatia.