What a Shock : Dhoni retires from Test cricket

MS Dhoni has retired from Test cricket with immediate effect following the drawn Test against Australia in Melbourne. Virat Kohli will take over as India captain for the final Test of the series, which India have already lost, in Sydney.

Dhoni was batting on 24 when the Test was called off early at the MCG – four overs were left and India had four wickets in hand – and he made no mention of his retirement during the customary captain’s press conference at the end of the match. The announcement was made via a BCCI press release shortly after and it cited “the strain of playing all formats” as the reason.

“One of India’s greatest Test captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the test rankings, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket,” the board said. “BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India. Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian team for the fourth and final Test against Australia to be played in Sydney.”

In recent months Dhoni suffered from fitness issues, missing five ODIs against Sri Lanka in November because of a hand injury, which also sidelined him from the first Test against Australia in Adelaide. In addition to the pressure of leading India in all three formats, and the Chennai Super Kings franchise, for six years Dhoni has also had to play an extraordinary amount of matches. Since the start of 2008 – taking into account international matches across formats, IPL and Champions League T20 games – Dhoni has played 398 matches, the most for any cricket during this period. Suresh Raina is second with 369 games.

Though Dhoni’s place in India’s Test side has not been under question, his batting form took a dip in 2014 and he averaged only 33 in 17 innings this year. His wicketkeeping has also deteriorated, in particular his ability to move laterally to take testing catches. India’s overseas results have also suffered under Dhoni’s leadership in recent years. Since 2011, they have won only two out of 22 away Tests and lost 13.

Dhoni, however, is India’s most successful captain, having presided over 27 wins in his 60-Test tenure, which began in 2008. His first Test as captain was against South Africa in Kanpur in April that year, because of an injury to regular captain Anil Kumble, and he took over full time after Kumble retired following the Delhi Test against Australia in October. Dhoni led India to the No. 1 Test ranking in 2009, a position they enjoyed until the tour of England in 2011.

Overall, Dhoni played 90 Tests in a career that began in 2005 and scored 4876 runs at an average of 38, with a high score of 224 against Australia in Chennai in 2013. As a wicketkeeper, he effected 294 dismissals, the fifth highest in Test cricket.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/814975.html

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20 Comments
  1. Baba 9 years ago

    Black day for indian cricket. madarchod bcci

  2. sputnik 9 years ago

    “Though Dhoni’s place in India’s Test side has not been under question, his batting form took a dip in 2014 and he averaged only 33 in 17 innings this year. His wicketkeeping has also deteriorated, in particular his ability to move laterally to take testing catches. India’s overseas results have also suffered under Dhoni’s leadership in recent years. Since 2011, they have won only two out of 22 away Tests and lost 13.”

    I think he should have just resigned from captaincy in test matches and continued as a player. Also he should waited for till the end of the final test match. Since the past few days lot of people have been praising and touting Virat Kohli to be the future captain.

    Since Dhoni did not reveal this in the press conference and it came out through BCCI press release it seems that he was forced to retire by BCCI or there was some clash between Dhoni and BCCI.

    • Baba 9 years ago

      all captains go through a lull phase but none of them are pressurised in this manner to retire. this is shamelessness.may be there are many in bcci lobby who dislikee how a small town boy became such an icon in a small time and made so much money. i am sure BCCI has gone to all kinds of dirty levels to get him out. The guy who won india 2 wc and champions trphy and lead india to #1 in test and odi for a breif period gets this treatment. To hell with indian cricket team

      • sputnik 9 years ago

        Saurav was India’s most successful captain and he is still the most successful Indian captain overseas and he was treated horribly by the BCCI. So this isn’t the first time that they have pressurized someone.

        This statement by BCCI secretary hints that he was forced to quit.

        “I was a bit taken aback by the suddenness of his statement. But we had spoken about it before the Test also. Now what transpired between us is an internal matter but I can tell you that it wasn’t a decision taken in haste. It was done after due deliberations.”

        https://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/815107.html

        So there seems to be a fallout with BCCI and there is some internal politics going on. Yes if if India loses WC 2015 he will lose his captaincy and they will make Virat Kohli the captain saying they are building a team for the future.

        • Baba 9 years ago

          “Saurav was India’s most successful captain”

          No its dhoni with 27 wins in 60 test matches. ganguly has 22-23 not sure.

          yes ganguly also faced it but ganguly had a terrible time with batting in both ODIs tests all forms of the game. while dhoni made a brillaint 223 agaisnt aus just last year and in ODIs and t20s he is stil hitting the ball well.the form of ganguly during his low phase and dhoni cant be compared. anyway we will know the worth of virat in the days to come

          • sputnik 9 years ago

            I said “Saurav was India’s most successful captain” and he was India’s most successful captain with 21 Test wins when he was dropped from Captaincy and there was that whole fight with Greg Chapell. Yes Dhoni has 27 Test wins as captain and he is now the most successful Indian captain ever.

            Ganguly still is the more successful Indian captain in overseas Tests though.

            “However, in overseas Tests India won only six out of 30 under Dhoni, and lost 15. In contrast, India won 11 out of 28 overseas Tests under Ganguly” Link

            India has done very badly under him in overseas Test series losing to England, Australia, SA and NZ. Dhoni’s overseas batting record specially in countries like Australia, England and NZ is bad. He has scored only one century in overseas test matches that too in the subcontinent (Pakistan) in his whole career.

            https://www.cricketcountry.com/articles/numbers-reflect-ms-dhoni-s-batting-struggle-away-from-the-subcontinent-9708

            So I think he should have just quit Test match captaincy after the end of the series and continued playing Test matches. May be without the pressure of captaincy he would have excelled in Test matches (overseas) too. He is still the best wicket keeper batsman India has.

          • Baba 9 years ago

            “India has done very badly under him in overseas”

            yes but it is mainly after 2011. Indian team lost their pillar of test batting – sachin, dravid and laxman in quick succession. they were the pillars of almost al gangly overseas wins. dhoni was given a completely new team and thrown into the deep end in overseas. you think ganguly woudl have got the wins with such a new team? even with the great trio of sachin, dravid and laxman, even gagulys record is only 40% wins compared to dhonis 20%. it is only relatively good.

            “So I think he should have just quit Test match captaincy after the end of the series and continued playing Test matches”

            no. it becomes a very embarassing situation. once you step down as captain and play as a normal player, many pyschological issues creep up and it would have deterred his performance more.

            Last time when i was shocked by such sudden retirement was Flintoff. he was at the top of his game and suddenly quit tests

          • sputnik 9 years ago

            Sachin, Dravid and Laxman were all there in the England series and the Australia series and they lost both 4-0. Dhoni had to sit out the last test match against Australia because of overrate which also they lost.

            “even gagulys record is only 40% wins compared to dhonis 20%. it is only relatively good”

            That is double that of Dhoni’s win percentage overseas 🙂

            If you compare overall win percentage in tests and one dayers, Dhoni is better than Saurav by less than 5%.

            Here is a article which compares Dhoni and Saurav’s captaincy stats.

            http://www.sportskeeda.com/slideshow/cricket-india-statistical-comparison-sourav-ganguly-ms-dhoni-captain

            But more than the wins or win percentage it is the loss percentage or losses that is the problem. India lost very badly under Dhoni in Aus and England while they were very competitive under Ganguly.

            Dhoni has one of the highest differences when it comes to home and overseas test wins next to Azhar and Sachin among Indian captains.

            https://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/549809.html

          • Baba 9 years ago

            “Sachin, Dravid and Laxman were all there in the England series and the Australia series ”

            yes but they were at the fag end of their career and were on thier way out of the team one by one.during ganguly, they were at their prime.I know ganguly has twice wins but that is only relatively. 40% win isnt a very good winnign rate by itself.thats what i had said.

            Quoting from the article you gave:

            “In July 2011, after the tour of West Indies and before the Pataudi Trophy, India had played 12 Tests away from home under Dhoni’s leadership, of which they won five and lost only two. ”

            this says whole story.

    • Baba 9 years ago

      “. Also he should waited for till the end of the final test match.”

      this clearly shows his fallout with BCCI. if india loses wc 2015, then dhoni will be forced to retire from all forms of cricket. likh ke le lo. he dosnt have the luxury of a sachin who had a very good marathi lobbying always goig for him even in tough times

  3. aryan 9 years ago

    Its s very Sad day for cricket lovers and his fans. I agree with Sputnik he should retire from Captaincy and not from Test Cricket.

    • Baba 9 years ago

      some part of me has died today. reading this news. just like i felt in sahcins retirement but atleast he was not forced like this.

  4. Baba 9 years ago

    watching reactions of cricketers on dhonis retirement. not a single asshole has the grace to say “i wanted to see more of dhoni in tests.” I think his best was yet to come

  5. Baba 9 years ago

    This was the Indian squad for 2011-12 aus series

    Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c) & (wk)
    Virender Sehwag (vc)
    Ravichandran Ashwin
    Rahul Dravid
    Gautam Gambhir
    Zaheer Khan
    Virat Kohli
    Vinay Kumar***
    VVS Laxman
    Abhimanyu Mithun**
    Pragyan Ojha
    Ajinkya Rahane
    Wriddhiman Saha (wk)
    Ishant Sharma
    Rohit Sharma
    Sachin Tendulkar
    Umesh Yadav

    VVS and dravid retired after this test, sachin struggled for another year and retired. Completey inexperienced bowling attack

    This was Indian squad for 2003-004 aus series:

    A Chopra
    V Sehwag
    R Dravid
    SR Tendulkar
    SC Ganguly*
    VVS Laxman
    PA Patel
    AB Agarkar
    Harbhajan Singh
    Z Khan
    A Nehra
    Anil Kumble

  6. Baba 9 years ago

    Quoting from the article you gave:

    “In July 2011, after the tour of West Indies and before the Pataudi Trophy, India had played 12 Tests away from home under Dhoni’s leadership, of which they won five and lost only two. ”

    this says whole story.if the problem was only about Dhoni’s captaincy overseas and nothing to do with Team India, then things would have been miserable from start. ganguly gloats a lot how his overseas record is better and comments on dhonis captaincy. everyone knows what used to happen to him under pressure situations (short ball phobia to throwing wicket away in crucial times) and what could have happened if he had to lead the current indian team

    • sputnik 9 years ago

      India always used to do badly overseas. Under Azhar, India won only one test overseas and under Sachin none. Sachin, Dravid, Saurav and Laxman were there even in 99 when India lost the test series in Australia 3-0. Under Ganguly India started to win test matches overseas and Ganguly brought out the fighting spirit in them. He had a short ball phobia and that was his weakness but he did score centuries in Australia and England and Dhoni has never scored any centuries there.

      Under Ganguly a lot of youngsters that he backed like Sehwag, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan started succeeding. Openers always used to be a problem when batting overseas. It was Saurav who made Sehwag open in tests and he turned out to be a big success. Akash Chopra wasn’t a big success but he did the job. Bowling attack has always been weak for India and it was under Saurav too.

      Dhoni consolidated on the success of Saurav and he took India to the next level in one dayers. But in tests after the initial success Dhoni could not take India to the next level and instead India has been losing badly overseas. Yes Sachin, Dravid, Laxman have now retired but some of the replacements have been good like Virat, Ajinkya, Pujara and Murali Vijay.

      Let’s see how India does under Virat does in tests. Saurav has been backing Virat a lot for the test captaincy saying he is passionate and aggressive.

      • Baba 9 years ago

        Harbhajan , kumble were not trained under ganguly. Neither were sachin dravid n laxman. They were backbone of test

        • sputnik 9 years ago

          Kumble was there since the early 90s. Saurav fought for Harbhajan’s inclusion in the team.

          Laxman used to open the innings under Sachin and he wasn’t that successful though he scored one century in Australia. Laxman succeeded after he was moved down the order. Dravid struggled in Australia under Sachin’s captaincy but was at his best especially in that 2003 Austalia series. Sachin has always performed well overseas but the top 3/4 batsman started collectively playing well together and that’s what made them competitive.

  7. hithere 9 years ago

    I promised after world cup win that I will never comment against Dhoni 🙂

    WRT overseas loss, we never produced quality fast bowlers coupled with our inexperience with dealing with pace on such wickets have been our albatross. People pick some selective records to show we do good overseas but in totality we suck on overseas tours (Aus+SA and to certain degree in England) for time immemorial And I give major blame to BCCI for not making such wickets at least at Ranji level so that cricketers have exposure.

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