It’s a heartbreaking moment for MS Dhoni fans as the former captain is dropped from the BCCI’s annual contract list on Thursday. This has raised fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand last year. Twitter trends Thank You, Dhoni.
End of an annual contract
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday announced the Annual Player Contracts for senior men’s team for the period from October 2019 to September 2020 in which former skipper and veteran wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed to find a place. Previously he was listed in the A category.
The list 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.
Test opener Mayank Agarwal, who has done great since making his debut during the tour of Australia in 2018-19, has been covered in the list in Grade B, which also features Hardik Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal along with two others. Pacer Navdeep Saini and T20 specialist Washington Sundar are new candidates in Grade C alongside Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Chahar, and Shardul Thakur.
Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah.
Grade A: Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant.
Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal.
Grade C: Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar.
Apart from MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmed Prithvi Shaw and recently retired, Ambati Rayudu has been dropped from the central contract.
Does Dhoni retire?
Dhoni’s contract not being renewed is not a surprise as he has not played an international game since that World Cup semifinal on July 9. He has been on a vacation and has refused to disclose his plans. Head coach Ravi Shastri had recently said that Dhoni may soon end his ODI career but could be in the fight for a spot in the T20 World Cup squad provided he does well in the IPL.
Since the semi-final match between India and New Zealand, there have been questioned marks about Dhoni’s future in the Indian team and this move by the board will further raise doubts over the future of the former India captain. Twitter trends #ThankYouDhoni.
He is not just only a cricketer he is the reason to watch cricket for millions.
For me #Dhoni means cricket & cricket means Dhoni.BCCI may ignore him but they can ignores his achievements of Ms Dhoni.
#ThankYouDhoni pic.twitter.com/SQsq8wRhgT
— Mukul Sharma (@mukulsharma1419) January 16, 2020
Why trending #ThankYouDhoni He is not retiring this soon.He is not playing as of now BUT will soon be Back With A Bang.Dont Loose Hope People.He has to give lot of memories to us by playing multiple Brilliant knocks & his behind the stump commentary #MSDhoni My Forever Captain ? pic.twitter.com/5JJD3if5fL
— Mansi Shah (@mansishah1611) January 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/arrya19661275/status/1217745155073155072
#ThankYouDhoni
We all gone a miss u Mahi..
Caption cool. pic.twitter.com/nMcXHlM4j3— Khiladi Harry (@mahendrakar01) January 16, 2020
https://twitter.com/Im__AmBuJ/status/1217748322552893446
#BCCI
Stop Trending Fucking tag #thankyoudhoni
.@msdhoni is not included in the annual contract by #BCCI from Oct 2019 to Sep 2020.PS, #T20WC starts from 18th Oct!? pic.twitter.com/VaJI5JT3Wx
— BALA HARINADH?? (@bala_harinadh55) January 16, 2020
So his career ended the same way it started. Poetic.
MS Dhoni (2004-2019)#ThankyouDhoni pic.twitter.com/MKRdMZMhfd
— Shujaabbas9650 (@shujaabbas9650) January 16, 2020
Starting of an era and ending of an era.?? No words to say.
We miss you @msdhoni ??? #thankyoudhoni pic.twitter.com/Mh5NlDYWEc— Kapil Jain (@KapilJa32795289) January 16, 2020
There's never an end of your era #ThankYouDhoni #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/yX6FXS7KQ6
— Mahi ⁷ ? (@ArmyxSwiftiie) January 16, 2020
