Ravindra Jadeja: An A+ contract player?

It's a curious decision by the BCCI to not have Ravindra Jadeja in the list of players being handed out A+ contracts, especially considering his Herculean efforts in the first Test against Sri Lanka last week. Jadeja scored a thrilling 175 not out (his highest Test score), batting at number 7 before taking five wickets for 41 runs in Sri Lanka’s first innings and a further four for 46 with Sri Lanka following on in the second innings.

In what will take some beating this year for solo performances in Tests, Jadeja dislodged West Indian Jason Holder from the top spot on the ICC all-rounder list.

The BCCI recently announced the list of contracts for the 2022 cycle. A total of 27 contracts were handed out by the board this year as compared to 28 last year. The BCCI hands out four categories of central contracts, each having a different value of the yearly pay out. Players with Grade A+ are given INR 7 crore, players with Grade A contracts get INR 5 crore, players with Grade B are handed INR 3 crore while those with Grade C contracts get INR 1 crore.

A to C

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah were the only players who were included in the A+ category.

Only five players made it into category A compared to last year's ten. Hardik Pandya, Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been dropped to category C while Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara received B level contracts. The five players that remain in Category A are Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohammed Shami.

Jadeja remains a huge part of India’s squad across all three formats which raises the question: Why is he in the ‘Contract A’ list rather than the A+?

It is a view held by ex-Indian opener Aakash Chopra who shared his opinions on his YouTube channel. “I feel Ravindra Jadeja’s name will go in the A+ category when the next contract renewal happens because his performance has been so good. His name is in Grade A currently. I feel Jadeja and KL Rahul’s name will start going to A+ next time.”

Track record

Jadeja is now a veteran of 284 matches for India and has an excellent record across all three formats. With the bat, he has a Test average of 36.46, ODI of 32.58 and 21.73 in T20I (but a strike rate of 124.42). With the ball in hand, he averages 24.28, 37.36 and 27.45 in Tests, ODI’s and T20I’s respectively. These numbers alone show that he is surely in line for an upgrade.

Jadeja will be hoping to maintain his first Test form against Sri Lanka when the second Test gets underway in Bengaluru on Saturday. Whether he can have the same impact with the pink ball will be interesting to watch, having only played in one day/night Test, bowling just two overs in a game where India demolished Bangladesh by an innings (becoming the first team in history to win four straight games by an innings) and with the fast bowlers taking all the wickets.