Yuvraj Singh

Kolkata: The BCCI believes in really rubbing it hard, especially if it happens to be the Indian hard hitter Yuvraj Singh. If being dropped from the Test squad wasn’t bad enough earlier this season, Yuvraj has been demoted to Grade B in the central contracts’ list for 2010-11.Surely, loss of form has cost Yuvi some fortune!

Yuvraj who was replaced by Suresh Raina in the Test XI, during the series in Sri Lanka during July-August, has taken his place in Grade A as well. Raina got a century on Test debut, but has struggled after that. He’s still in the process of making himself ready at the very highest level.

Surely, the BCCI could have added Raina, instead of pushing Yuvraj down, but the Gradation Committee comprising of the Board President Shashank Manohar, Secretary Narayan Srinivasan and chief selector Kris Srikkanth, which met in the Tamil Nadu capital on Thursday, chose to ‘target’ Yuvraj yet again.

The selectors expect Yuvraj to be a match-winner in the upcoming World Cup, yet the 28 year old’s confidence is repeatedly hammered each time.For now and then, Yuvi seems condemned. Even big scores in domestic matches in the last few weeks and longer hours at nets may not impress the people who matter. While enhancing the retainership slab in the three grades, the Gradation Committee has done away once and for all with Grade D, which had been introduced in 2008-09.

“Grade D had a specific purpose, to prevent players from enrolling in the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).Now that the League is no longer in existence, there’s no need to hold out even small carrots,” a senior BCCI official told the press. In 2009-10, as many as 17 players had been accommodated in Grade D.

The BCCI has appreciably hiked the match fees for Tests – Rs.7 lakh from Rs 2.5 lakh, ODIs Rs 4 lakh from Rs 1.6 lakh and for T20s Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.

Following is the Grading as laid down by the Gradation Committee of the BCCI.

GRADE A (Rs 1 crore, up from Rs 60 lakh): Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina.

GRADE B (Rs 50 lakh, up from Rs 40 lakh): Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli.

GRADE C (Rs 25 lakh): Amit Mishra, Sreesanth, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara.

Debut as contracted player: Mithun, Vinay Kumar; Promoted: Jadeja, Ashwin, Pujara

Tags: BCCI, Cricket, Gradation Committee, Grade A, Grade B, Grade C, India, Indian Sports, Sports India, Yuvraj Singh