Is the end near? BCCI omits MS Dhoni from 2019-20 central contract list

MS Dhoni was omitted from BCCI's 27-member list of central contract awardees for the 2019-20 season, the Indian cricket board revealed the list on Thursday.

Dhoni, who has not played for India since the team's loss to New Zealand in 2019 World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, earlier held an 'A' category contract in the previous cycle (2018-19).

BCCI Central Contracts for 2019-20:

Grade A+ (INR 7 cr): Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah

Grade A (INR 5 cr): Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Mohd. Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav and Rishabh Pant

Grade B (INR 3 cr): Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya and Mayank Agarwal

Grade C (INR 1 cr): Kedar Jadhav, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, Manish Pandey, Hanuma Vihari, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer and Washington Sundar

The latest development is a sign that Dhoni's era is nearing the end. The former skipper took a sabbatical following India's World Cup exit and is yet to make himself available for selection. BCCI's selection committee chief MSK Prasad earlier had stated that India will have to learn to "move on" from the 2011 World Cup-winning captain.

While Dhoni has asked the cricket fraternity and media to be patient about his future, India's head coach Ravi Shastri earlier suggested that Dhoni's chance of participating at the T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia will depend on his Indian Premier League (IPL) form and other selection pointers.

Earlier, Sunil Gavaskar questioned Dhoni's continued absence from international cricket.

"I can't tell you anything about fitness. But I think the question that needs to be asked is of MSD himself. He has not made himself available to play for India since July 10. That is an important point. Does anyone keep himself away from playing for India for that long? That is the question and therein lies the answer," the former Indian captain added in a recent interview.