The 38-year-old was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand in July last year. Dhoni also recently returned to training, batting fluently in the Jharkhand team nets. He was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore as annual retainership, until last year.

The vice-president of the CSK Fans Association A R R Sriram was happy about Srinivasan's statement. "We are pretty sure that MS will be retained. There is no CSK without Dhoni. We won't let him go into the auction pool," Sriram said. J Sivakumar, an admirer of Dhoni and member of the fans club, echoed similar views and said the India Cements boss' words were music to his ears.

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Dhoni's contract not being renewed was not exactly a surprise as he has not played a competitive game since that World Cup semifinal on July 9. He has been on an sabbatical and has refused to divulge his future plans. One of the biggest names in Indian cricket, Dhoni led India to two world titles ¿ the 2007 World T20 in South Africa and the 2011 ODI World Cup at home.

The veteran has played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20 Internationals for India, accumulating over 17,000 runs and effecting a staggering 829 dismissals behind the stumps.

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