NEW DELHI, Sept 28: India paceman Zaheer Khan was promoted two rungs to the elite category in the Indian cricket board’s new central contracts announced on Thursday.

Left-armer Zaheer made a strong comeback after months on the sidelines late in 2006 and spearheaded the team to their first Test series win in England for 21 years last month.

The board raised the retainer amounts and also introduced a fourth rung of 11 players, in an apparent bid to stop them from being roped in by an unapproved Twenty20 league planned to be launched in November.

The elite Grade ‘A’ players will earn an annual retainer of six million rupees ($151,000) and the second-rung just over $100,000, followed by Grade ‘C’ ($63,000) and Grade ‘D’ ($38,000).—Reuters