Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ajinkya Rahane unlikely to return to international cricket after being dropped from BCCI central contracts

BCCI Central Contract 2023: BCCI released its new Central Contract List on Sunday (26 March). There are a total of 26 Indian players’ names in this list. Some have got promotion here and some have had to face demotion. As Ravindra Jadeja has been promoted to A+ grade here, while KL Rahul has moved from Grade-A to Grade-B. There are many players whose grades have fluctuated. Amidst all this, some players have also been completely dropped from the contract list.

Players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Deepak Chahar, Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha are out of this contract list. Ishant Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha were sure to be out of the contract list because both these players have not got a chance for Team India in any format for the last one year. Same is the condition of Hanuma Vihari. But the exclusion of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Ajinkya Rahane from the central contract list has been surprising. Here Deepak Chahar has to be out of the contract list due to continuous injury.

Is Rahane’s international career over?
Although Ajinkya Rahane has also not played any match for the Indian team for the last one year, but he was not expected to be out of the central contract. The complete exclusion of this Test cricketer from the central contract is indicating something else. It is possible that even now there is no place for Rahane in the Indian team. After being dropped from the new central contract list, speculations are rife that Rahane’s international career is over and BCCI is not in a mood to give him further chances.

Actually, Ajinkya Rahane was playing only Test cricket for the Indian team for a long time. Even in this format, when he continued to flop, he was dropped from the team. He has been running out of Team India since the South Africa Test series played in January last year. He was advised to find form by playing Ranji Trophy but in the last two Ranji seasons also he could not score any significant runs. In such a situation, he could not return to Team India as well and now he has to be out of the contract list as well.

Shocking exclusion of Bhuvneshwar Kumar from the central contract
Last year, Bhuvneshwar Kumar remained the lead bowler in T20 cricket for Team India. Barring a few occasions, his performance was excellent. Despite this, however, his exclusion from the central contract was a surprising decision. With this decision of BCCI on 33-year-old Bhuvneshwar, it is being speculated that the board now wants to give priority to young fast bowlers instead of him. In such a situation, it is possible that even Bhuvi may not get a chance to play in Team India in future. However, if he becomes an excellent bowler again in IPL, then he can become a part of Team India.

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