'Not fair BCCI' - Twitter fumes after MS Dhoni is dropped from the annual contract list

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the central contracts for the Indian cricket team for the period October 2019- September 2020. The contract, as always has been bracketed under four layers- A+, A, B, and C. While Indian captain Virat Kohli, vice-captain Rohit Sharma, and fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah have been duly awarded the A+ contracts worth Rs 7 Crore, former Indian captain MS Dhoni is notably missing.

The Grade A contract worth Rs 5 Crore has been awarded to the likes of ace-spin bowling duo of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, swing-king Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Test specialists Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, white-ball openers KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant and the pace bowling duo of Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami.

As far as Grade B [Rs 3 Crore] is concerned, five cricketers- Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, and Mayank Agarwal- made their way into the list while the likes of Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, and Washington Sundar have been awarded the Grade C contract worth Rs 1 Crore.

MS Dhoni last played for India in World Cup 2019 semi-final

This is the first time since MS Dhoni made his debut for India that the champion wicketkeeper-batsman’s name isn’t in the BCCI’s annual contract list. 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 at the hands of Martin Guptill, squashing the Indian hopes to dust.

Since then, speculations have galore around MS Dhoni’s International future, even as the former captain has continued to stay tight-lipped. 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 MS Dhoni not getting the annual contract, the writing may just be on the wall for the former captain. As expected, the news of Dhoni getting dropped from the contract list spread like wildfire on social media and the fans slammed BCCI for the same.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/ImMayankB/status/1217734853765951488?s=20

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

— Div_Yog (@yogesh_khare) January 16, 2020

Dhoni 😭💔#BCCI #MSDhoni

— Gujrati chari 💕 (@mayu22taunk) January 16, 2020

Not fair to a player who has given so much to Indian cricket. #MSDhoni

— #WhatNext (@ThisNMore) January 16, 2020

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are the only 3 players who are included in Grade A+ contract, MS Dhoni is not part of any BCCI contact for the first time in 14 years. #MSDhoni #ViratKohli #RohitSharma #BCCI #AnnualContract

— Mahirat 🏏 (@dream11mahirat) January 16, 2020

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

— Sandeep Sanju (@SandeepSanju98) January 16, 2020

#MSDhoni missing from the list of new player contracts announced by BCCI. Indicator?

— Jaspreet Sahni (@JaspreetSSahni) January 16, 2020

#MSDhoni 😳😳 https://t.co/UeNgmovfp9

— Ram Charan missed National Award By a Whisker 😝!! (@1010_arjun) January 16, 2020

#MSDhoni to BCCI : pic.twitter.com/L9wkXOaLkR

— Devil (@Baredevil_) January 16, 2020

I wonder if #MSDhoni isn’t keen on playing .. why is @DineshKarthik being ignored?? He’s still the best option after MSD.. #Dhoni

— Divya (@divdivdiv) January 16, 2020

#JustAsking #BCCI #MSDhoni #IndianCricket https://t.co/cavecGWX8J

— Gulabchandra Sharma (@gulabchandra_) January 16, 2020

#MSDhoni जैसे खिलाड़ी को मैदान से बाहर संन्यास कराने की क़वायद शुरू 😪#BCCIContract

— Syed Hussain (@syedhussain_) January 16, 2020