Indian Contracts Announced

[manee]

Following are the retainership grades from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.

Grade 'A' [Rs. 60 lakh]: Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh , Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan.

Grade 'B' [Rs 40 lakh]: V V S Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, S Sreesanth, Dinesh Kartik, R.P.Singh, Virender Sehwag.

Grade 'C' [Rs 25 lakh]: Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Robin Uthappa, Piyush Chawla, Suresh Raina.

Grade 'D' [Rs 15 lakh]: Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Ishant Sharma, Ranadeb Bose, Mohd. Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Akash Chopra, Yusuf Pathan.

Full article: http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2007/sep/27contracts.htm

I am happy with this pool of players and the Group 'D' addition will help fringe players too - I think it is a good move.

As for the actual names, I feel the Big Three, Zaheer, Kumble, Dhoni and Yuvraj all fully deserve to be Group 'A'. I am not sure about Sreesanth and Jaffer being Grade 'B' either considering neither are particularly consistant. On the subject of the latter, with four openers in Group B, it appears that the BCCI are hoping that Karthik and Jaffer will open in tests and Sehwag and Gambhir in ODIs and twenty20s once Tendulkar and Ganguly are gone of course.

I find it interesting that Agarkar has been retained in the list at Group 'C', I really thought his poor twenty20 performances and sticking with the unimpressive Joginder Sharma meant that Agarkar was gone, but evidently, he is still in the setup from his fine performances in 2005/6 season.

Suresh Raina I feel is a very interesting one in Group 'C', he has not played for India A or India in the recent past; he really has been earmarked by pundits (cricketers to define cricket in the next decade article by Wisden Cricketer) and the BCCI alike to be a success in the future. Based on his ODI performances, he had a spark but nothing more with the bat and was the best fielder I have seen for India in a long time. With an average of 46.12 in FC cricket and average of 36.34 in List A cricket (SR = 84.99), he is clearly a special 20 year old on the Indian domestic circuit; he also appears to be a useful bowler but it appears that only time will tell on that one.

Group 'D' have all the names I would expect in it tbh. It is interesting that it seems to be a full team in there too: 6 batsman; a keeper, two all rounders and two pace bowlers. This clearly will be the back up to the main core of players in the next year and will be interesting for me to see how Rohit Sharma - clearly can handle international cricket, good prospect, Manoj Tiwary; mind boggling Ranji Trophy runs and Ishant Sharma - future tall RF bowler? progress.

 

[baburao]

TBH this grade system S**** every player is equal.:

 

[SaiSrini]

TBH this grade system S**** every player is equal.:

Not necessary to use such words..

Sometimes, you need to reward the players based on their performance and their importance to the team.

 

[baburao]

Not necessary to use such words..

Sometimes, you need to reward the players based on their performance and their importance to the team.

Yeah just like last time.When grade C players were performing better than Grade A players.Mate this wont help.Its good that we have won the TT.I am still in favour of performance related contracts.Perform or get out of the team.And still there is no sign of fast pitches in India.Which was in news after the South African tour and guess what they wont be giving any importance to it for sometime.

 

[sohum]

To be fair, the grading depends on experience and you're only going to be getting experience if you perform well enough to stay in the team.

 

[wicked_dude]

irfan pathan shud be in b grade.....he is better bowler than sreesanth and can bat too...

 

[Cricketman]

IRfan in C makes no sence IMO.

 

[SaiSrini]

Irfan has just come back. Cant just put him that easily in Grade B.

 

[wicked_dude]

even harbhajan singh,sehwag makes a comeback along wit pathan..

but bhajji/sehwag r in grade b...irfan is all rounder....he needs to be in "B" grade

i pity irfan pathan...he is a match winner...he shud be treated fairly.....even the gujrat govt doesnt give him a fair treatment..

 

[manee]

even harbhajan singh,sehwag makes a comeback along wit pathan..

but bhajji/sehwag r in grade b...irfan is all rounder....he needs to be in "B" grade

i pity irfan pathan...he is a match winner...he shud be treated fairly.....even the gujrat govt doesnt give him a fair treatment..

What has he done so far in cricket to deserve Grade 'B'? Sure, he has potential, but his Test bowling average is boosted massively from destroying Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, even then it is still over 30 and he goes for over 5 an over in ODIs, he has potential, but has not lived up to it yet and his fall from fame could not have been more dramatic in the months leading to the World Cup.

He is 22 years old, he has the potential to easily achieve Grade B or maybe A in one or two years, and may spend 5-10 years there and so one year at Grade 'C' will hardly affect him in the long run, it may even motivate him more.

 

[Adarsh]

25 lakhs in India isn't too bad either.

 

[Leggie]

why is sehwag in B?, he has just come back wasn't that impressive, ok he was more then ok, but he should be in C i think.

 

[icyman]

Would these cotracts actually matter to these players ?
No,cause with the T20 World Champions tag,they will get their contract money in a couple of advetising stints with their sponsors.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'd prefer if players were paid on a game-to-game basis, depeding on their performances. This should extend to India 'A' players. Something like a 500 rupees per run with an additional 10K for a milestone or 15K for a wicket taken. 1500 rupees for a catch, 2000 for a runout, 2500 for a stumping, and like 15K per player in the squad if the team wins a match. All rough figures naturally, but something along those lines.

 

[usy]

Grade 'D' - Momo Kaif..

OMG!