Dhoni bows out gracefully

press trust of india

Melbourne, Dec 30: He was his usual self during the post match press conference Tuesday – explaining the reason of the loss, saying how India batsmen often dig their own grave by playing rash shots. There was no indication that Tuesday’s defeat would force the ‘captain cool’ to hang-up his boots from the Tests forever.

But the Mahendra Singh Dhoni we all know is a man who never fails to surprise both his admirers and critiques alike. He has done this several times on the pitch in past and Tuesday he did it again, albeit beyond the pitch.

Mahi surprised the cricket world with his sudden announcement of immediate retirement from Test cricket, making way for Virat Kohli to don the mantle of captaincy.

Announcement of Dhoni’s retirement was made immediately after India lost the current Test series to Australia following a drawn third Test here.

“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 BCCI said in a statement.

“M S Dhoni has chosen to retire from Test Cricket with immediate effect in order to concentrate on ODI and T20 formats. BCCI while respecting the decision of M S 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,” it added.