Pathan elevated to top bracket, Zaheer demoted

Upwardly mobile: Irfan Pathan joins India's elite club © Getty Images

The annual central contracts for Indian cricketers were announced today, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India announcing a three-tier structure for 15 players.

As expected Irfan Pathan was the only addition to the premier Group A category while Zaheer Khan, selected for the Pakistan tour, was demoted from Group B to Group C. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was given a central contract and was slotted in Group B while Parthiv Patel's contract was not renewed. Ashish Nehra and Lakshmipathy Balaji, the former contracted players, were also ignored while Murali Kartik, who was not picked for the Pakistan tour, was retained in Group C. Gautam Gambhir was included in Group C, replacing Aakash Chopra from last year's contract.

At the moment the BCCI has allocated 26% of total profits towards payment of players' salaries. Of this, 13% goes towards payments to the national team, while 13% goes to payments of domestic cricketers, cricketers who go on A-tours etc. It is expected that the premier slab A will fetch Rs 80 lakh to 1 crore (previously Rs 50 lakh), the second slab Rs 60-70 lakh (previously 35 lakh) and the last slab Rs 30-40 lakh (previously 20 lakh).

Group A: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan

Group B: Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar

Group C: Murali Kartik, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer khan

Group A: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh.

Group B: Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Group C: Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra, Murali Kartik.