Bhuvneshwar Promoted Grade A Contract

Mumbai: Medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar made it to the Grade A of BCCI's annual 'Graded Retainership' for the 2014-15 season, while World Cup winners Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have been omitted from the list of 32 released by the Indian board.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was in Grade B last year was the only player to get into the top bracket which includes skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Mohammad Shami, Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu have got an upgrade to Group B from Group C while the players who have been dropped from last year's list include Dinesh Karthik and Jaydev Unadkat along with Gambhir and Yuvraj.

Last year's BCCI list had 23 contracted players and it has swelled to 32 for the 2014-15 season.

By virtue of international debuts there are a lot of new faces in the list with the likes of Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel and Karn Sharma making it to Group C. Robin Uthappa, Manoj Tiwari and Varun Aaron too have made the cut while Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul have also been awarded with the contract.

Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have been retained in Grade B, while Wriddhiman Saha, Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra remain in Grade C.

Another surprising, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who last played for India over a year ago has surprisingly retained his place in Grade B.

The BCCI's contracts list

Grade A: MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Promote: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Out: Sachin Tendulkar (retired)

Grade B: Pragyan Ojha, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammed Shami
Promote: Mohammed Shami, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane
Out: Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh

Grade C: Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul
New face: Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parvez Rasool, Akshar Patel, Robin Uthappa, Manoj Tiwary, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul
Out: Dinesh Karthik, Jaydev Unadkat