BCB to exclude A+ category from men’s central contract list on account of the scarcity of all-format cricketers.
A list of 27 cricket players that BCB’s cricket operation committee is considering for the 2026 contract list was created. The board has not yet approved the contract list or the new pay scale, but has learned that, in contrast to previous years, the 2018 central contract list would not include any A+ categories.
In 2025, BCB made the decision to modify the central contract structure as the board went back to the universal grade system, grouping their players into five categories (A+, A, B, C, and D) rather than the previous Test, ODI, and T20I divisions.
“We are not having any A+ category in the central contract this year,” a BCB official, working closely with the development, confirmed to Cricbuzz on Saturday. “None of our cricketers are currently playing across all three formats regularly which was one of the prerequisites to get into the A+ bracket of the central contract We have prepared a list of 27 cricketers and now waiting for the final approval of the board,” he said.
All 21 members of the previous central contract list were able to be included in the new list, but Mahmudullah, who was part of the central contract from 2025 to February, was left off because he withdrew from all formats.
In addition to them, six other cricket players were added to the list: Tanvir Islam, Hasan Murad, Saif Hasan, Nayeem Hasan, Parvez Hossain Emon, and Shamim Hossain Patwary.