On Thursday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the central contracts for the upcoming season and surprisingly for the Indian fans, former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni has been excluded from the contract list. He was in Category A last season. The payout for all the four categories remains the same, with the trio of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah in the top category (A+) where they will get a payout of 7 crores.
The Grade A category players will be receiving ₹5 crores, ₹3 crores for Grade B and ₹1 Crore by Grade C.
Dhoni has been on a sabbatical from cricket since India’s exit from the World Cup where the men in blue were knocked out of the marquee tournament following a loss to New Zealand in the semi-finals. This will raise further doubts over the future of the former India captain.
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Jasprit Bumrah has taken giant strides in the last year and has become India’s pace spearhead across all the three formats. KL Rahul has been promoted to Grade A from Grade B. The Karnataka player has found some great form in the recent past, especially in the ODIs and T20Is.
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As many as 27 players have been divided into these four categories, with skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah being the three in the A+ category.
The BCCI announces the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.
Saini, Mayank, Shreyas, Washington and Deepak Chahar get annual player contracts.
More details here – https://t.co/84iIn1vs9B #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/S6ZPq7FBt1
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 16, 2020
In his illustrious international career, Dhoni has been excluded from BCCI’s annual contract list for the very first time. The former World Cup-winning skipper last played for India in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup where he was, unfortunately, run-out after a brilliant thrown from Martin Guptill, squashing the Indian hopes to dust.
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Since then, speculations have galore around Dhoni’s International future as he had preferred to stay quiet on his retirement. India coach Ravi Shastri has time-and-again iterated that Dhoni’s future in T20I cricket for India will solely depend on how he and his contemp0raries fare in the upcoming Indian Premier League.
But with Dhoni not getting the annual contract, the writing may just be on the wall for the former captain. As expected, the news of him getting excluded from the contract list spread like wildfire on social media and the fans slammed BCCI for the same.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
You can used @sachin_rt upto 40+ age and the player who is the most fitest in team india like @msdhoni you are going to remove him from contract shame on you @BCCI go home. @SGanguly99 #bcci #MSD
— Yogesh (@yogesh_khare) January 16, 2020
— kaala tika 🌚 (@anttshant) January 16, 2020
Not fair to a player who has given so much to Indian cricket. #MSDhoni
— #WhatNext (@ThisNMore) January 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/dream11mahirat/status/1217728559038361600
No #MSDhoni in #BCCI players annual contract. Period from Oct 2019-Sep 2020. #MSDhoni has made himself unavailable since the semi-final in World Cup 2019. Only 3 players in grade A+ – Virat, Rohit and Jasprit.
— Karishma Singh (@karishmasingh22) January 16, 2020
Is #MsDhoni retired from Indian Cricket team he is not in #Contract @SGanguly99 @BCCI
— OG Kalyan Babu Fan (@Sandeepsanju98) January 16, 2020
#MSDhoni missing from the list of new player contracts announced by BCCI. Indicator?
— Jaspreet Singh Sahni (@JaspreetSSahni) January 16, 2020
#MSDhoni 😳😳 https://t.co/UeNgmovfp9
— Ram Charan missed Oscar Award by a Whisker 😝😝 (@1010_arjun) January 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/Baredevil_/status/1217726381142020097
I wonder if #MSDhoni isn’t keen on playing .. why is @DineshKarthik being ignored?? He’s still the best option after MSD.. #Dhoni
— Divya S (@divdivdiv) January 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/syedhussain_/status/1217729554921357312
