The Great BCCI contract...!!!!!!!!!

The decision that might has raised eyebrows amog the cricket fraterniy, BCCI offered pace spearhead Zaheer Khan a Grade C contract even as the struggling Irfan Pathan was put in Grade B. Newly appointed ODI vice-captain M S Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh have been promoted from Grade B to Grade A—even though Yuvraj is yet to cement a Test spot and Dhoni hasn’t fared too well outside the sub-continent. But the biggest surprise was clearly the poor grade offered to Zaheer, who has bowled consistently well in the last few months.
Virender Sehwag, Pathan and Harbhajan Singh have been downgraded from Grade A to Grade B in the new player contracts list. In all, 17 players have been offered annual retainer contracts based on performance during the last season. These contracts, effective October 1, 2006, will run till September 30, 2007.
SWINGS OF FORTUNE
Grade A (Rs 50 lakh/yr plus match fee): Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh, M S Dhoni
Grade B (Rs 35 lakh/yr plus match fee): Laxman, Harbhajan, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar
Grade C (Rs 20 lakh/yr plus match fee): Gambhir, Jaffer, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel All’s not lost for Dinesh Karthik
Perhaps the biggest blunder was dat wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, who has not been offered a contract along with Ramesh Powar and Ishant Sharma among others, will not be left out entirely. Any player who plays a minimum of 5 Tests or 15 ODIs during a season automatically qualifies for Grade C contract.
Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh— all of whom do not find a place in the current team to tour Ireland, Scotland and England — will now be in Grade B, a demotion from last season’s. The trio finds a place in the list because they played a key role in India’s record streak in ODIs as well as the Test series win in West Indies in June 2006.
VVS Laxman too has been demoted to Grade B. Laxman is now considered only a Test specialist and no longer finds a place in the ODI squad.
The two players to miss out from last season’s contracts are Mohd Kaif and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik. While Kaif was in Grade B, Kartik was in Grade C. Kaif struggled for form and Kartik battled injury most of last season and have, therefore, been left out. The announcement of the new contracts has been delayed by nearly nine months as the Board and senior players had some differences.