MS Dhoni not retiring till IPL 2020, likely to make himself available for ICC T20 World Cup: Report
The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to drop MS Dhoni out of the Central Contracts for 2019-20 cricket season was comprehended as a big move by many fans across the globe. The fact that the 38-year-old hadn’t played a single cricket match since India’s ICC World Cup 2019 semi-final defeat to New Zealand, together with the lack of clarity over his international future, meant that the board didn’t have a reason to include him in the list of centrally contracted players.
Dhoni soon became the top trending topic on social media with many fans even reckoning as an unofficial retirement of the World Cup-winning skipper. A Times of India report, however, confirmed that Dhoni’s absence from the central contracts has nothing to do with his future in the Indian team as he can still play for the Men in Blue.
“But that doesn’t mean he won’t be considered for any selection in the future,” said a TOI source while asserting that the player’s lack of cricketing activity in the past 6 months made him ineligible for the central contract.
The TOI report also confirmed that Dhoni will not hang his boots till the conclusion of the 2020 IPL season and is expected to make himself available again – most likely only for the T20 format – as the countdown to the T20 World Cup in Australia starts. In such a case, the selectors would need to make a call based on his performance in the IPL and the state of affairs in the Indian team as far as the wicket-keeper’s role is concerned.
“Then it is up to the selectors and it is up to individual performances. What if he single-handedly takes CSK to victory in IPL? Won’t that matter? People should stop jumping the gun. His absence from the annual retainership doesn’t mean a thing,” the source revealed.
Dhoni isn’t the only Indian cricketer who is inactive when it comes to cricketing duties but hasn’t announced his retirement yet. Harbhajan Singh is another big example. The off-spinner last featured for India in the 2015-16 season and has since only featured in the IPL.
“Even Harbhajan Singh hasn’t played since 2015-16. He hasn’t announced his retirement either. Nobody wants to ask him why he hasn’t done it. Maybe Dhoni makes a bigger headline and people love headlines,” said an official while talking to the newspaper.
“Retirement, be it Dhoni or Harbhajan or any other cricketer, is a very personal decision. Selecting or dropping a player is the selection committee’s decision. Dhoni will not play in the ODIs again. So how can he be part of the central contracts?”, he added.
Other than Dhoni, youngsters like Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw haven’t been included in the Central Contracts either but they both are a part of the Indian cricket team’s plans for the ongoing cricket season. This confirms that the contract is decided on technical grounds – a number of games played – rather than the status of the player as far as national selection is concerned.
“Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw haven’t been given contracts either. Does that mean they are not in the scheme of things? Contracts are decided on technical grounds. Shaw hasn’t played for India since he got injured in Australia. Gill has just played two ODIs. There’s a method to distribution of contracts,” sources added.
As for Dhoni, he isn’t one of those players who will say no to national duty by announcing retirement and continue to play IPL.
“How weird will it sound when a player says, ‘I’m retiring from the game but I’ll continue playing in the IPL?’ An Indian cricketer needs to compulsorily retire only if he wants to play any cricket overseas or intends to associate himself with any cricket-related activity off the field. Dhoni doesn’t intend to do either. Yuvraj wanted to play in Canada, that’s why he retired,” sources told TOI.
With the BCCI and Dhoni himself still maintaining silence on the latter’s future, it seems hard that fans would come to know of the 38-year-old’s plans till the start of IPL’s next edition.
