Dhoni out of India’s list of contracted cricketers

NEW DELHI: MS Dhoni was absent from the list of centrally contracted players published by the Indian cricket board Thursday, raising fresh speculation about the 38-year-old’s future.

Dhoni has not appeared for club or country since the World Cup in July and the wicketkeeper-batsman has been expected to announce his retirement for some time.

The former captain of the national side, who serves as an honorary lieutenant colonel in the army reserves, spent part of last year with his unit in strife-torn Kashmir — missing an ODI tour of the West Indies.

He has not featured in any series since and was not named as part of the squad to tour New Zealand later this month.

He quit Test cricket in 2014 but continued to be India’s batting mainstay in limited-overs cricket despite passing on the captaincy to Virat Kohli in 2017.

However, Dhoni may be eyeing a last hurrah at the Twenty20 World Cup in October and November in Australia.