New Delhi: Will the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni announce his retirement from all formats of the game, Thursday. Well the former Indian captain has called a press conference in the evening, but what has set the rumour wheels rolling is a tweet by Virat Kohli, earlier in the day.
Virat Kohli tweeted a picture of his and MS Dhoni during the T20 game against Australia. In the picture, Kolhi is sitting on his knees and MS Dhoni standing. Kohli has captioned the picture, “A game I can never forget. Special night. This man, made me run like in a fitness test @msdhoni.”
Well the moment the picture went viral, speculation about Dhoni’s retirement started doing the rounds. It should be stated here that Mahendra Singh Dhoni last donned national colours in the 50 overs World Cup semifinal game against New Zealand – a match that India lost narrowly. Dhoni brought the Men in Blue agonisingly close to victory before being run out by a Martin Guptill throw.
Since then Dhoni has not been a part of the tour to the West Indies. He took a break of two months from the game to serve his time in the Indian Army and then went on a vacation.
The Indian selectors have also not picked MS Dhoni for the T20 series against South Africa which means they are also not considering ‘Captain Cool’ as a part of their plans for the T20 World Cup next year. In this context, if Dhoni decides to hang up his gloves and the willow, it will not be surprising.
But then Dhoni has always had this knack of surprising everyone. His retirement from Test cricket shocked all in December 2014 after India’s game against Australia at Melbourne. Even then Dhoni did not announce his retirement after his 90th Test, it was the BCCI which did it.
Similarly, his decision to relinquish captaincy in the shorter format of the game was also a bolt from the blue. In January 2017, Dhoni told the BCCI by an email that he was stepping down from his position as captain of the 50 overs and T20 teams.
So what lies in store this time around can be anybody’s guess. But then there is a fair chance of Mahendra Singh Dhoni calling it a day.
PNN