BCCI confirm three Grade-A players in India Women's central contract list
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and all-rounder Deepti Sharma have earned the top A-grade in the BCCI Central contract list for the upcoming season. The players in the top bracket have been cut down from five last year to three, with Rajeshwari Gayakwad dropping to Grade B and Poonam Yadav missing out on a central contract altogether.
A whole host of fresh names find themselves in Grade B, including youngsters Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Shafali Verma. The former two, along with Renuka Thakur, make a jump from Grade C to Grade B after their impressive showings over the last year, especially the 2022 Women's World Cup and the 2023 T20 World Cup.
Several fresh faces have been handed their maiden central contract in the Grade C category – Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Radha Yadav and Yastika Bhatia. Sneh Rana and Harleen Deol retain their place on the list while Pooja Vastrakar drops a grade.
Amongst the names completely missing from the annual player retainership are India legends Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, both of whom announced their retirement over the coùrse of last year.
The Indian women enjoyed a brilliant last year in international cricket. After failing to get past the group stages in the Women's World Cup 2022, they bounced back by making it to the final of the inaugural edition of cricket at the Commonwealth Games, bagging the silver medal against Australia and then qualifying for the final four of the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.
Full list:
Grade A: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma
Grade B: Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Grade C: Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia