Pacer Shikha Pandey and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav are the notable exclusions in the latest player retainership list announced by the BCCI for the senior national women’s team. Poonam hasn’t represented India in any format since March 2022 while Shikha hasn’t played ODIs since 2021 and has been in-and-out of the T20I squad as well.
Poonam, incidentally, finds herself completely eliminated from the 17-member list after holding a Grade A contract the previous year. Shikha, on the other hand, had a Grade C contract during the previous cycle. Arundati Reddy and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia are the other significant omissions from the contracts list.
Jemimah Rodrigues and the talented keeper-bat Richa Ghosh received promotions up to Grade B, while fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur received her maiden central contract and went right into the second pay grade. Over the past 12 months, all three players have played a significant role in India’s limited-overs matches and have earned their rewards.
There are now only three names on the Grade A contract list, compared to five last year, including skipper Harmanpreet Kaur,
Contracted Players
Grade A (INR 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma
Grade B (INR 30 lakh): Renuka Singh Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Grade C (INR 10 lakh):Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia
