New Delhi:&nbsp;The Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) on Monday&nbsp;dropped veterans Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh from their&nbsp;annual 'Graded Retainership' even as UP seamer Bhuvneshwar&nbsp;Kumar made it to the top bracket.
The BCCI also chose to once again ignore the trio of&nbsp;Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan.
In the three groups, the 'Elite Group' saw four&nbsp;cricketers from last year being retained. It includes India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his&nbsp;deputy Virat Kohli, limited overs specialist Suresh Raina and&nbsp;off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The fifth one in last year's&nbsp;list - Sachin Tendulkar - has already retired and is being&nbsp;replaced by Bhuvneshwar.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/jan/gauti-viru-yuvi.jpg" alt="Viry, Gauti and Yuvi" width="650" height="365" /> Veterans like Virender Sehwag (left), Gautam Gambhir (centre) and Yuvraj Singh (right) have been excluded from the list. File Pic
The group A cricketers get Rs 1 crore as retainership fee&nbsp;from the BCCI.
The axe on the five veterans, who played crucial roles in&nbsp;India's 2011 ODI World Cup triumph, is yet another indication&nbsp;that the selectors are looking ahead.
Incidentally, Gambhir and Yuvraj were included in group B&nbsp;last year but their subsequent failures led to them being&nbsp;dumped when the list was released today.
Bhuvneshwar was a deserving entry into the top bracket&nbsp;after his lion-hearted performances in England and for&nbsp;maintaining consistency over a period of time which also got&nbsp;him the 'Cricketer of the Year' award from BCCI.
The likes of Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar&nbsp;Dhawan, Rohit Sharma have all held on to their Group B&nbsp;retainership while Ambati Rayudu, after his good show in ODIs,&nbsp;has been promoted to group B. Pacer Mohammed Shami has also&nbsp;been elevated to group B. Ajinkya Rahane, for his good show in&nbsp;a all formats, has also been inducted in the second group. <img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/dec/bhuvi2.jpg" alt="Bhuvneshwar Kumar" /> Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only new edition to BCCI's Grade 'A' contract list. File Pic
Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder Parveez Rasool, by virtue&nbsp;of his ODI debut, has got into Group C, while Bengal batsman&nbsp;Manoj Tiwary, having made his ODI return against Bangladesh,&nbsp;is in the same group. Pankaj Singh, after his Test match debut&nbsp;in England, is also in group C along with Mohit Sharma and&nbsp;Varun Aaron.

BCCI drops veterans Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh from their&nbsp;annual 'Graded Retainership' even as UP seamer Bhuvneshwar&nbsp;Kumar made it to the top bracket

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BCCI drops veterans Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh from their&nbsp;annual 'Graded Retainership' even as UP seamer Bhuvneshwar&nbsp;Kumar made it to the top bracket

BCCI's central contracts out: Bhuvneshwar promoted; Gambhir, Yuvraj dumped

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / BCCI's central contracts out: Bhuvneshwar promoted; Gambhir, Yuvraj dumped

BCCI's central contracts out: Bhuvneshwar promoted; Gambhir, Yuvraj dumped

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