Dhoni’s disappearance after World Cup
MS Dhoni, the former India captain who was an outstanding batsman, hasn’t played international cricket since the defeat of the Indian team in World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in July 2019. And now the question arises what does this no contract mean. Guesswork has been going on for months now.
There was little uncertainty that Dhoni’s effectiveness was diminishing and for some, it was time he called it quits. Some were assuming that he might announce his retirement after the 2019 World Cup. But nothing of that sort happened. Dhoni made himself unavailable series after series, raising more questions about what was going in his mind. What does BCCI do in this matter and whether should he be given a clear message?
Indication by Chief selector
That he is left out of the contract might not completely come as a surprise. Chief selector MSK Prasad dropped a strong indication in October 2019 that they were looking beyond Dhoni and have already laid the path towards the future.
He said he made it very clear that after the World Cup they were moving on while announcing India’s team for home series against Bangladesh. They began giving chances to youngsters and so that they could establish themselves in the side.
With Sanju Samson coming into the side as back-up wicketkeeper and even Rishabh Pant doing well, he is sure about understanding their thought process, Prasad added. He also said that Dhoni himself subscribe to the policy of backing youngsters.
Dropped out of central contract
It seems that Dhoni’s era in international cricket is coming to an end after being dropped out from the central contract. Retirement may be surely on his mind but does this silence of Dhoni mean that he is looking for one last shot at the T20 World Cup.
Even Shastri suggested that he might retire from the ODIs but he didn’t give any hints about the shortest format as Shastri wanted to keep their conversation between them only.
