A top BCCI official has given the reasons for the omission of MS Dhoni from the contracted players group. The 27-player list was announced on Thursday (January 16)
Mumbai: Why was Mahendra Singh Dhoni omitted from the BCCI central player contracts list? The reason has been revealed by a top official in the Indian cricket board.
On Thursday (January 16), Dhoni did not figure in the 27-player contracts list. Now, a top Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) official has said one of the board officials spoke to the former captain before the contracts list was made.
Also read: Full list of BCCI contracted players
"Let me clarify that one of the top-most BCCI office-bearers spoke to MS and told him about how they are going about in the central contracts. He was clearly told that since he hasn't played any game in the said period (September 2019 till date), he cannot be included for the time being," the official told news agency PTI on condition of anonymity.
The 38-year-old Dhoni has not played for India since July 2019. He featured in the ICC World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand where the “Men in Blue” lost.
Also read: Emotional fans trend #ThankYouDhoni
When the BCCI official was asked as to who spoke to Dhoni, he did not mention whether it was BCCI president Sourav Ganguly or secretary Jay Shah or someone else.
“Let's not get into who spoke. The fact is that a player of his stature needs to be told that he is not being awarded a central contract for the time being and it was done in an appropriate manner,” the official said.
BCCI sources told news agency ANI that Dhoni was not offered a contract since he had not played the required number of named (at least three T20Is) during the period, starting from October 2019.
Sources: MS Dhoni was informed that he won't be given BCCI's central contact, before the decision was announced today. A player needs to play a minimum of three T20 matches in a particular season to be eligible for BCCI central contract. pic.twitter.com/FHYfvA1PEc
— ANI (@ANI)The contract is from October 2019 to September 2020. India are currently playing a three-ODI series against Australia. They are trailing 0-1 and the second game is in Rajkot tomorrow (January 17).
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