Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) named 28 cricketers in its national players’ (Men) contract for 2026, but left the highest-paying A+ category vacant, with no player earning a place at the top tier.

Pacer Taskin Ahmed was the only A+ category player in last year’s national contract. This year, he has been demoted to A category, alongside Test captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, ODI skipper Mehidy Hasan Miraz, and T20I captain Litton Das. The monthly salary grade for Category A is Tk 8,00,000.

A total of seven new players have been added in this year’s contract -- T20I vice-captain Saif Hassan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanvir Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Hasan Murad, Shamim Hossain and Nurul Hasan Sohan -- and none from last year’s contract have been dropped.

All seven additions were named in Category D with a salary grade of Tk 2,00,000.

Test opener Shadman Islam has been bumped to Category B from C, along with Rishad Hossain, Mahedi Hasan and Tanzid Hasan Tamim.

Category B, with a salary grade of Tk 6,00,000, has 11 players in total -- the most for any category this year. Experienced stars Mushfiqur Rahim, Taijul Islam and Mominul Haque are also in Category B.

Pacer Khaled Ahmed has been promoted to Category C from D with a salary grade of Tk 400,000.

The Tk 10,00,000 salary grade of Category A+ remains vacant.