‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni stumps all, retires from Test cricket

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s most successful captain, has retired from Test cricket, ending one of the most exciting and eventful decades of Test cricket played by an Indian cricketer.

Virat Kohli, who led India against Australia in the first Test of the current series, would take over for the fourth Test match in Sydney. Dhoni would continue to lead India in One-day and Twenty20 Internationals.

Shortly after the end of the third Test against Australia in Melbourne, his 90th overall and 60th as captain, Dhoni’s retirement from all Test cricket was announced by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) through a press release.

Prior to this, Dhoni had spoken for 15 minutes at the post-match press conference, yet not a word did he utter about this being his last Test match and his last press conference as a Test player and captain. Dhoni is a garrulous man who grins at and chats with all comers at every possible moment, but in Melbourne today, he was unusually contemplative and thoughtful.

This and the manner of his retirement, in the middle of the series, raises questions and suspicions – for instance, was he forced out by the BCCI? But that seems unlikely, given his proximity to the BCCI president, N Srinivasan. Srinivasan also owns Chennai Super Kings, of which Dhoni has been captain for six seasons. Last year, Srinivasan had declared: “People are jealous of our team Chennai Super Kings because we have MS Dhoni!”

Yet, it does not seem right that a player of Dhoni’s stature – who won India the T20 World Cup, the 50-over World Cup and led the team to the No. 1 spot in Test cricket – should retire from the sport’s top format through a mundane press release. It’s almost akin to a general walking away from the head of the army at the last moment.

Dhoni’s best as captain was behind him, the team was stagnating and Kohli’s captaincy and batting in the first Test at Adelaide was sparkling. Dhoni has not been a great Test captain for some time; his form has been bad, his wicketkeeping below par. But Kohli clearly respects and looks up to him. Dhoni, famously cool in the mind, could have been useful in shepherding Kohli in his early days as captain. 

This is where Dhoni’s retirement could hurt India most. Dhoni has been under much pressure in recent months. Apart from his captaincy, he’s been under pressure because of his proximity with Srinivasan, who has been under a cloud due to his role in the betting and spot-fixing scandal. 

It has been demonstrated that Dhoni was not entirely honest with the Mudgal Commission, which investigated the scandal. Maybe Dhoni decided he couldn’t take any more.

Curiously, though, his retirement is not a huge surprise to those who’ve known him. You chat with him about his fitness and career, and he expresses indifference to power and riches, says he can walk away any time, and recounts the various aches that have been his companions for years. 

Perhaps it’s one of those aches that became unbearable, perhaps failure turned his apathy for Test cricket into a loathing. Either way, Indian Test cricket has lost the man who invigorated it in the first five years he played it.