MS Dhoni in Danger of Missing Out on Top BCCI Contract

Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni may reportedly miss out on the top contract of the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India.

According to a report in India Today, the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) in its meeting on Wednesday (January 3) devised a four-grade contract formula — A+, A, B, C — after which players will get their much-awaited pay hike which was approved by the Vinod Rai-led panel, after a meeting with skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Ravi Shastri in New Delhi on November 30.

According to the news outlet, the panel discussed that A+ category would be provided to only those players who play in all the formats of the game which might see Dhoni missing out on the top contract. The World Cup-winning skipper retired from Tests in 2014 but has still been awarded the ‘A’ grade contract since then. The report also claimed the panel is also in favour of granting top contracts to those who are not being in the limited-overs cricket squads under the current rotation policy like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Just like in the past, the selectors will be assigned with the responsibility of the gradation shortlisting, but there will be lesser scope for subjective evaluation, as they will have to follow a set guidelines to decide whether players qualify for a particular grade, before making the final decision. The three-member committee may submit the gradation guidelines to BCCI finance committee soon, which will deliberate on the issue before sending their feedback to the Vinod Rai & party.

Last year, Dhoni’s grade A contract had received criticism from several quarters. Former Pakistan batsman and member of MCC Cricket Committee, Ramiz Raja had said that players like Dhoni and Shahid Afridi getting top contracts despite not playing Tests degrades the sanctity of the Tests.

“You have to acknowledge and respect the status of Test match cricket, and it has to come from the cricket boards, in Asia specifically. For example, MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from the BCCI, Shahid Afridi retired from Test cricket yet got the A-grade contract from PCB,” Raja had said.

Ramachandra Guha, eminent historian and former member of the CoA, had also expressed his concerns at Dhoni’s getting the highest retainer in the letter he wrote to the BCCI on his resignation.

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