NEW DELHI: Discarded by the National selectors, Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh now stand downgraded in the Board of Control for Cricket in India's revised list of contracted players.

In a press release on Saturday, Board secretary Niranjan Shah announced the gradation based on the performances of the players in the previous season. The one-year contract ends on September 30, 2007.

The Board gives annual retainership of Rs. 50 lakh to those in Grade `A', Rs. 35 lakh to those in Grade `B' and Rs. 20 lakh for those in Grade `C'.

This is in addition to the match-fee and a share of the Board's profit enjoyed by the players.

Grade `A' list pruned

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, named vice-captain of the one-day team for the tours of Ireland and England, has been promoted to Grade `A' along with Yuvraj Singh. They join Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. The number of players in Grade `A' has been reduced to six from eight.

Along with Sehwag and Harbhajan, those demoted to Grade `B' are V. V. S. Laxman and Irfan Pathan. Ajit Agarkar has been retained. Mohammad Kaif, earlier in Grade `B', has been ignored. Comeback man Zaheer Khan remains in Grade `C' along with Gautam Gambhir, S.

Sreesanth and Suresh Raina. Wasim Jaffer and Munaf Patel have been included in this category while Murali Karthik finds himself dropped.

The list: Grade `A' (Rs. 50 lakh each): Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Grade `B' (Rs. 35 lakh each): V.V.S. Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.

Grade `C' (Rs. 20 lakh each): Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, S. Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina and Munaf Patel.

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