The much-delayed graded system of payment for top Indian cricketers was given the go ahead in Kolkata on Sunday with the Board of Control for Cricket in India announcing an initial list of 17 players who will be awarded yearly contracts next month.

Also Read Contracts ready for Indian cricketers

The contracts will be reviewed on September 30 next year, BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters after a meeting of the Board's Gradation Committee.

The 17 players have been divided into three pools as follows:

Group A: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh.

Group B: Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar, Laxmipathy Balaji.

Group C: Parthiv Patel, Aakash Chopra and Murali Karthik.

Dalmiya said players in Group A would receive a retainership of Rs 50 lakh [Rs five million] each, those in Group B Rs 35 lakh [Rs 3.5 million] while Group C players would get Rs 20 lakh [Rs two million].

"In addition, the contracted players as well as any other player selected to play for a series will be paid a match fee," he said.

The match fee for a Test at home would be Rs 200,000 while that for a One-Day International would be Rs 160,000.

For a Test match abroad, the players would get Rs 240,000 and for an ODI Rs 185,000, Dalmiya said.

A player will continue to receive the retainership fee even if he is injured or becomes ill as a result of playing or training for the country and is rendered unavailable for selection, he added.

Dalmiya said skipper Sourav Ganguly was scheduled to attend the meeting but excused himself saying he did not want to involve himself with a sensitive issue at a time when the team has important engagements coming up.

The meeting also decided that a maximum of 20 players would be awarded the contracts every year but if it is less than 20, like this time around, then the Board could add more players any time during the year.

The players who are included later would be given the contract on a pro-rata basis.

Also, if any player is involved in 31 One-Day Internationals or 10 Tests during a year, he would be offered a Grade C contract, Dalmiya said.