Raina, Sreesanth offered BCCI contracts

Paceman S Sreesanth and left-handed batsman Suresh Raina have been rewarded for their mature performances in the recent one-day internationals as they received central contracts by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Raina and Sreesanth have played 15 ODIs since October 1, 2005 and hence both of them have been offered players contracts in the Group 'C' with a retainership of Rs. 20 lakhs each, a BCCI release said on Thursday

Uttar Pradesh youngster, Raina, has played 21 ODIs in all and has scored 412 at an healthy average of 37.45.

Meanwhile Sreesanth, who has impressed with his pace and swing, bagged the BCCI contract after a fruitful season with the Indian team, where he claimed 22 wickets in 15 ODIs and nine wickets in the two Tests against England.

The contracted players are as follows:

Grade A (Rs 50 lakh retainers): Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan.

Grade B (Rs 35 lakh): Yuvraj Singh, Mohd Kaif, Ajit Agarkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Grade C (Rs 20 lakh): Murali Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina and S Sreesanth.

Contracted Players:

Tests: Rs 2.50 lakh (Playing 11)

ODIs: Rs 1.60 lakh.
The reserves would get 50 per cent of the fees.

Non-Contracted Players:

Tests: Rs 3.20 lakh (for playing 11)
Reserves: Rs 1.60 lakh

ODIs: Rs 2.20 lakh (for playing 11)
Reserves: Rs 1.10 lakh.