MUMBAI: Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir have been axed from the list of contracted players with BCCI for the 2014-15 season. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the biggest beneficiary as he has been promoted from Grade B to Grade A.

He will join M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and R. Ashwin in the elite group. Yuvraj who last played for India in the Twenty20 Cup final in April, incidentally scored his second Ranji Trophy ton in as many games on Monday. The Punjab left-hander hit 136 in 160 balls against Maharashtra in Pune.

The board had axed Indian cricket’s three big names Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan from the list of contracted players last year and the trio continue to be ignored. Yuvraj and Gambhir were demoted to Grade B from the top grade last year but have been completely overlooked this time around.

All these five prominent players were also not included in the 30-probables for the World Cup giving indications that they no longer figure in selectors plans. Kumar who replaced retired cricketer Sachin Tendulkar in Grade A, has been a consistent performer for India in last couple of seasons.

Kumar had a good England tour, claiming 19 wickets from seven Test innings at 26.63. He also got ‘Cricketer of the Year’ award from BCCI. Stumper Dinesh Karthik and left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat have missed out on the annual retainership list. BCCI have announced 16 players in the Grade C instead of only nine last year. Amit Mishra, Saha, Vinay and Mohit Sharma have retained their contracts.

BCCI PLAYERS’ CONTRACTS LIST

GRADE ‘A’: M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, R Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar

GRADE ‘B’: Pragyan Ojha, M. Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Umesh Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Md. Shami.

GRADE ‘C’: Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Wriddhiman Saha, Stuart Binny, Pankaj Singh, R. Vinay Kumar, Mohit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Parveez Rasool, Axar Patel, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, Karn Sharma, Sanju Samson, Kuldeep Yadav & K.L. Rahul.