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Dhoni Dropped From BCCI's Central Contract List: How Twitter Reacted

Dhoni has not played for India since the World Cup semifinal last year.
File image of MS Dhoni.
Christopher Lee-ICC via Getty Images
File image of MS Dhoni.

BCCI’s decision to drop MS Dhoni from its list of centrally contracted players has again given a push to speculations of his retirement. The former Indian captain has not played for India since the World Cup semifinal last year, leaving his fans to speculate about his future in Indian cricket.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Until last year, Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore.

Skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore. Coach Ravi Shastri had recently said that Dhoni may soon end his ODI career. In an interview to CNN-News18, he said, “He has finished his Test career, he may soon end his ODI career.”

However, Shastri added that Dhoni will definitely play the IPL. “One thing I know about Dhoni is that he will not impose himself on the team. But if he has a cracking IPL, well, then...”

Former India cricketer Madan Lal told India Today that it was looking difficult for Dhoni to play the T20 World Cup. “I think he has been left out of the contracts list because he did not play in the last six or seven months.”

Soon after BCCI announced the list, Dhoni’s name started trending on Twitter with people wondering if this means the cricketer is retiring and others just expressing displeasure over the cricket body’s decision.

Some called for Dhoni to come back:

Some people wanted him to retire gracefully and end all the speculations.

In a tweet, sports analyst Ayaz Memon asked how can one read the development. “BCCI giving him a clear signal, or mutually reached understanding?”

He also pointed out that Dhoni hadn’t retired and will play the IPL.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.