M S Dhoni retires from Test cricket

MELBOURNE: M S Dhoni's Test career came to an end in the same way that he has often played his cricket — with a quirky, inscrutable move that seemed to defy logic and left eyebrows raised all around.
The Indian cricket board (BCCI) announced Dhoni's retirement from Test cricket, effective immediately, moments after a nervy India managed a draw in the third Test at the MCG.
Dhoni had a good match in Melbourne. He was at the crease, fighting it out for 39 balls, scoring an unbeaten 24 as India managed to avoid yet another defeat in an overseas Test match. He also effected nine dismissals behind the stumps, the most by an Indian wicketkeeper in a Test match. But India is now 0-2 behind in the 4-Test series and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been conceded to Australia. Dhoni decided he had had enough.
The decision had been brewing for a while but a phone call to BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel sealed the deal. Patel revealed that Dhoni phoned him soon after the Test in Melbourne ended to convey the news. He also asked Patel to delay the announcement slightly as he wanted to inform the team. A litte while later, he called up Patel and told him that he could go ahead.
Dhoni didn't give even a whiff of his impending retirement at the post-match interaction. He talked about sledging, he talked about draws. He talked about the Indian tail. He talked about wanting to avoiding defeat. He went on and on. But he didn’t say a word on his Test retirement.
The BCCI did it for him mere moments after he had left, citing “the strain of playing all formats” as the reason for his abrupt departure.
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The team hotel here in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD was immediately locked down for all outsiders.It was, like one of his stumpings, deftly done.
From being the undisputed leader of a team which rose to the top of the world Test rankings, Dhoni's fortunes nosedived over the past year, leading to Tuesday's swift, silent departure in the middle of an important away series.
He leaves the team in a lurch and hastily hands the reins over to a still-learning, still-maturing Virat Kohli. Some will say it is a cop-out. Others will say it was long overdue.
Dhoni will stay here with the team for the duration of the Sydney Test before picking up the reins ahead of the tri-series and the World Cup, said his handlers.
That India didn’t play a single Test at home in 2014 went against Dhoni. He had the best captaincy record in home Tests, and the worst away.

India have always struggled away from home. Lately, since the decline and retirement of stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, India had struggled to compete. Captains have use-by dates and Dhoni seemed to have passed his. His field placements were bizarre, his use of bowlers perplexing. Often, he would let a game drift, his brain seemingly in the dressing room. His batting failed to stamp its presence. The Midas touch had deserted him.
Dhoni was always an accidental Test cricketer. His batting, so brutally effective in one-dayers, lacked the technical skill required in Tests, but he found a way to manage. His wicketkeeping, like his batting, was ugly but effective.
He survived and flourished, improvising, using the oodles of common sense which had enabled him to rise from small-town Ranchi origins to becoming the most powerful man in world cricket. He made it as a leader and a batsman.
It was in Johannesburg in 2007, at the first World T20,that Dhoni was handed the reins of the T20 squad. The Test captaincy, at that point, seemed a distant dream. The seniors had refused to play the tournament and the captaincy came his way.
Dhoni was then a long-locked hitter who kept wickets but had little reputation as a tactician. His decisions at crucial moments went a long way towards India winning the tournament, and Indian cricket wasn’t the same again.
He seemed bashful and shy in those first few days in South Africa, embarrassed even to have been catapulted to a role of such importance. By the time he said goodbye to Tests, he had become the quintessential reclusive superstar, having confined himself to a stratosphere even some teammates could not breach. VVS Laxman, when he retired, said he could not reach Dhoni on the phone.
Dhoni had the instinct of a gambler but not the finesse of the blackjack dealer. It didn’t seem to matter. At one point he seemed two steps ahead of any rival skipper. India couldn’t do without him. It was a natural progression when he replaced Anil Kumble as Test skipper.
Dhoni retires with the most Test runs of Indian captain, more than even Sunil Gavaskar. Among his six tons are a double century against Australia in Chennai. He is the only one to have won his first four series as captain. He is the only Indian wicketkeeper to have averaged 38-plus in Tests.

The only concern was that he was playing too much cricket, and it seemed impossible for one man to keep up with the insane itineraries chalked out by the board. But this was Dhoni, and he persevered year after year. It began to grate.
Dhoni missed five ODIs against Sri Lanka in November because of a hand injury, which also sidelined him from the first Test against Australia in Adelaide. Apart from leading India in all three formats, Dhoni also captains Chennai Super Kings. Since the start of 2008, counting international matches, IPL and Champions League T20 games, Dhoni had played 398 matches, the most for any cricketer during this period.
It is ironic that a man credited with the hasty departures of a few Test legends is now quitting the format in this unceremonious manner. Kohli, a brash, young batsman with dreams of world domination made headlines after he led in Adelaide. Kohli screamed attitude. A new era was wanting to stamp its presence.
It’s unlikely that Dhoni will care that he has quit like he batted, in an ungainly fashion. He never had a fondness for Tests, and more than once has contemplated quitting to focus on ODIs and T20. He has finally crossed the line. He knows history will forgive his shortcomings and remember the numerous highs. He knows his successor will have big boots to fill.
The World Cup looms, and Dhoni will be captain, looking for the Midas touch again. Dhoni’s final chapter has not yet been written. But it could be close.