Bangladesh Cricket Board unveils central contracts for the 2026 season

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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced its men’s central contracts for the 2026 season, introducing a new contract structure and expanding the list of centrally contracted players. The new contracts are effective from January 1 to December 31, 2026 .

The BCB has made significant changes to its central contract system for the 2026 season:

A+ category removed: The board has decided to eliminate the top-tier ‘A+’ category from the contract list. This decision was made due to the scarcity of cricketers who regularly play across all three formats for Bangladesh . As a result, no player has been placed in the A+ category this year.

Expanded player pool: The total number of centrally contracted players has increased from 22 in 2025 to 28 in the 2026 list.

Four-tier system: Players are now distributed across four grades: A, B, C and D with corresponding monthly retainers.

Here’s the complete breakdown of Bangladesh players in each grade along with their monthly salaries:

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The 2026 central contracts feature several significant changes based on player performances and career decisions:

Taskin Ahmed downgraded: The pacer, who was the sole A+ category player in 2025, has been downgraded to Grade A. This decision follows an Achilles injury that kept him out of all Test matches in 2025, though he remained active in white-ball cricket.

Mushfiqur Rahim moves to Grade B: The veteran batter has moved down to Grade B following his retirement from ODIs in March 2025.

Young players promoted: Strong performances earned promotions for several young cricketers. Tanzid Hasan, who was Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer in T20Is in 2025 with 775 runs in 27 matches, has been promoted to Grade B. Leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, who topped the wicket charts in both ODIs and T20Is last season, also earned a promotion to Grade B.

First-time contract recipients: Batters Saif Hassan and Parvez Hossain Emon, along with spinners Hasan Murad and Tanvir Islam, have received central contracts for the first time. They have all been placed in Grade D .

Notable omissions: Test opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy has failed to make the cut in the 2026 contract list . Veteran all-rounder Mahmudullah, who had retired from all formats, was not included in the new list as expected .

Players returning to contracts: Spinner Nayeem Hasan, batter Shamim Hossain, and wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan have regained their positions in the central contracts after being previously omitted.

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