Dravid retained in Grade A

His prolonged slump in form notwithstanding, Rahul Dravid retained his place in Grade A as the BCCI on Monday offered new contracts to 37 players.

The players have been clubbed in four grades in the new contract which would cover the October 2008 - September 2009 period, BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

The quartet of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman were promoted to Grade A where they joined Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.

All nine cricketers will get an annual retainership of Rs 60 lakhs.

Delhi pacer Ishant Sharma and Tamil Nadu batsman S Badrinath along with Rohit Sharma were greatly benefited as they jump to Grade B from the previous Grade D.

R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, and Irfan Pathan have been also been offered Grade B contracts which would earn them an annual retainership of Rs 40 lakh.

However, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik had a steep downslide as he was pushed to Grade D from his Grade B place in the previous year.

Paceman S Sreesanth and opening batsman Wasim Jaffer have also been dropped from Grade B to C, which also includes Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra, who would pocket Rs 25 lakh as annual retainership.

As many as 14 players have been offered Grade D contracts which would make them richer by Rs 15 lakh. The players in this category are Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Gony, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashok Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Chetanya Nanda, Murali Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Sudeep Tyagi.

GRADE 'A' (Rs 60 lakhs): Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, M S Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, V V S Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh.

GRADE 'B' (Rs 40 lakhs): R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, S Badrinath and Irfan Pathan.

GRADE 'C' (Rs 25 lakhs): Piyush Chawla, Wasim Jaffer, Yusuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra and S Sreesanth.

GRADE 'D' (Rs 15 lakhs): Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Parthiv Patel, Manpreet Gony, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Ashoke Dinda, Wriddhiman Saha, Chetanya Nanda, M Vijay, R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan and Sudeep Tyagi.