Out of favour Gambhir, Yuvraj now deprived of BCCI central contract

New Delhi: This is truly the end of an era in Indian cricket. After finding themselves out of India's 30-man 2015 World Cup probables list, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir joined the likes of Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra who lost central contract.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Monday announced the list of its contracted players for the 2014-15 season, which includes a crop of young and emerging. But the release arrived in a bad time for these 2011 World Cup winners who have served the sports with equal gusto over the years.

When the probables lists for the quadrennial tournament to be held in Australia and New Zealand was announced early this month without their names, it was welcomed as a bold move by the cricket body in some quarters, but many believed it was a rather rude treatment to the senior pros – who can still compete with the best of the lot.

Then, denying them a central contract reaffirms BCCI's looking ahead motto. For the individual players, it certainly is the end of their India hopes. Both Yuvraj and Gambhir were in the Group B last year, while Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer and Nehra had failed to get the board's nod.

Despite not enjoying central contracts, these players were expected to make comebacks into the national team reckoning any time especially with the World Cup around, and thanks to their sheer talent. But with this latest snub, it seems their chances of playing for India in any of the three formats are well and truly over.