Dropped from BCCI’s central contracts list, former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni began practising with the Jharkhand Ranji Trophy squad on Thursday amid fresh speculation on his future.

The 38-year-old showed up at his home team’s net practice in Ranchi, indicating that he is gearing himself for the upcoming Indian Premier League. This was on a day when BCCI axed him from the list of centrally contracted players.

“Even we did not know that he was going to come and train with us. It was a pleasant surprise. He batted for a while and did the usual training routine,” a source close to the Jharkhand team management told PTI.

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Jharkhand’s next match is against Uttarakhand, starting Sunday in Ranchi.

Dhoni has not played a competitive game since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand on July 9.

Head coach Ravi Shastri has hinted that the celebrated wicketkeeper-batsman might retired from ODIs soon but will be in contention for a T20 World Cup berth provided he does well for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

The T20 World Cup will be held in Australia in October.