World Cup Plan: ‘Umran absent, Dhawan still there?’ BCCI criticized after player contract revelation

Questions about the three players and their role in India’s World Cup strategy were hurled at the BCCI shortly after the player contract list was made public.

The Annual Player Contracts list for the Indian cricket team led by Rohit Sharma was made public on Sunday by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The list covers the months of October 2022 through September 2023. This includes the T20 World Cup that took place the year before the huge ODI World Cup that will be held at home this year. 

There were 26 players on the list, each with one of four pay grades. Few players were given raises or demoted, and seven players have lost their contracts. Questions about the three players and their role in India’s World Cup strategy were hurled at the BCCI shortly after the player contract list was made public.

The greatest gainer of the party was Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. The former joined Indian captain Rohit Sharma, former skipper Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah in the A+ category, while the latter moved up from Grade B to A. Hardik Pandya, who had been injured for the better part of the previous season, has been moved up from Grade C to A. On the other hand, some veteran cricketers, including Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma, who were both in Grade B, lost their contracts.

Fans celebrated Jadeja’s promotion because they thought the all-rounder deserved it

However, Bumrah’s pay was questioned because the star pacer did not play in any matches during the current cycle due to his recurring back problem. His last game was in September 2022, before he was ruled out of the T20 World Cup.

Here are some of the tweets:

“Umran Malik isn’t going to the World Cup, but Shikhar Dhawan is still there?” –

Fans were also angry that Umran didn’t get a player contract for the 2022-23 season. Many people wondered if this meant that he wasn’t going to play for India in the ODI World Cup. After impressing selectors and experienced cricketers with his performance in the Indian Premier League, the promising fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir made his debut in the summer of 2022. He played for India in 16 white-ball matches and took 24 wickets. His last game was in the home New Zealand series in January of this year.

Dhawan, who has been out of the reckoning in Tests and T20Is for a long time and played his last ODI for India in December 2022 before Shubman Gill skilfully replaced him in the India set-up for the World Cup plan, was also the subject of questions.

Fans were overjoyed when Sanju Samson got a central contract, but there were also questions about Mohammed Siraj’s place in Grade B despite the fact that he is now an all-format player.