MS Dhoni misses out on India central contract as international future remains uncertain

The legendary former captain has not represented his country since the World Cup and the BCCI's pledge to move on has been reflected in the latest batch of deals

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• Dhoni remains in T20 World Cup contention 

MS Dhoni's international future looks increasingly bleak after the former captain was omitted from India's latest batch of central contracts.

The 38-year-old not represented his country in any format since the World Cup, with the BCCI have claimed they want to move on.

Coach Ravi Shastri has suggested Dhoni could yet have a role to play in the T20 World Cup later in the year, but the wicket-keeper batsman has kept his counsel as speculation has built.

Dhoni was included in the second wage band for the 2018-19 cycle but has been dropped altogether from the group of 27 players who have been handed deals.

The new terms cover the period from October 2019 to September 2020 and therefore do not include the World Cup or the Test and one-day international series against Australia.

Captain across all three formats Virat Kohli is in the A+ category, which sees players earn £755,884, alongside opener Rohit Sharma and bowler Jasprit Bumrah.

The A group, who can expect payments reaching £539,938 across the 12-month period includes Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

The BCCI announces the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Saini, Mayank, Shreyas, Washington and Deepak Chahar get annual player contracts.

More details here - https://t.co/84iIn1vs9B #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/S6ZPq7FBt1

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 16, 2020

Mayank Agarwal and the injured Hardik Pandya are in band B, where players earn £323,922, while Washington Sundar and Kedar Jadhav are the stand-out names in the concluding C category, where players are due £107,974.

India central contracts 2019-20

Grade A+: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A: Mr Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant

Grade B: Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal

Grade C: Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar