‘Rahul K L lag gaye’ – Fans react as star Indian opener gets demoted from Central Contact A to B

The Indian Cricket Board on Sunday, March 26 announced the Indian men’s cricket team’s central contracts for the 2022-23 season. The Board has retained 26 cricketers. There are four categories of the Indian Cricket Board’s contract list – ‘A+’ for players on INR 7 crore retainers, ‘A’ for players INR 5 crore, ‘B’ for players INR 3 crore, and ‘C’ for players INR 1 crore.

Cricketers in the top “A +” category are lock-ins for all three formats, while those in the “A” category are lock-ins for Tests and one-day matches. Players in Group B are typically regarded for limited-over cricket, while players in Group C are frequently considered for one of the three formats.

KL Rahul, who had previously been named vice-captain and has been downgraded in the most recent Annual Player Contracts list, was the biggest shock. The Chennai franchise all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja has been promoted from Grade A+ to the Grade A category along with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah.

Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya were promoted to Contract B

Rahul will now be seen leading the Lucknow franchise in the upcoming edition of the Indian T20 League. Their opening game is against the Delhi franchise on Saturday, April 1 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee  Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya were promoted from Grades C and B, respectively, to Grade A. Shardul Thakur was demoted from Grade B to Grade C, while Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav moved up from Grade C to Grade B. After Kuldeep Yadav returned to the contracted list in Grade C, KS Bharat also earned his first central contract.

Hanuma Vihari, Mayank Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, and Deepak Chahar could not find a place on the list, neither could Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, or Ishant Sharma. In the previous campaign, Ishant and Rahane were in Grade B, while the others were in Grade C.

Here’s how fans reacted to KL Rahul’s demotion from the Indian Cricket Board’s Central Contract: