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Former India head coach Ravi Shastri walked down the memory lane and recalled MS Dhoni’s shocking retirement from Tests on December 30, 2014 at the end of the drawn Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne. Shastri, being the team director of the India side then, on Sunday (December 26) revealed that nobody in the team was aware of Dhoni’s decision before he ‘casually’ informed them on the same after the game.
Shastri told Star Sports that Dhoni took the retirement decision knowing that Virat Kohli was ready to take over captaincy duties.
"He knew who was the next leader in the line. He was just waiting for the opportune time to make that announcement because he knew how much his body could take. He wanted to prolong his white-ball career. When his body tells him it's enough, it's enough. There's no second thoughts with MS," Shastri said.
In a span of 90 Test matches, Dhoni scored 4876 runs with six centuries and 33 half tons. In 2013, the 2011 World Cup captain smashed a colossal 224 run to rout Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Chennai and became the first Indian wicket keeper to score a double century in Tests.
Shastri said that the veteran player’s retirement came as a huge surprise in Melbourne.
"It came as a huge surprise in Melbourne when he said 'I am finishing with Test cricket'. In fact, he just casually walked up to me and said, 'Ravi bhai, I need to speak to the boys'. I said 'sure'. So I thought he would say something; we'd drawn a great game, batted last day. To draw that match was tremendous stuff.
"And he comes out, bolt out of the blue, 'I am done with Test cricket'. And I just saw the faces around the dressing room, they were in a state of shock, most of them. But that's MS for you," Shastri reminisced.
The 40-year-old Dhoni is also the most successful T20 skipper in history with 176 wins and 118 losses while his trophy cabinet includes the ICC T20 World Cup (2007), two Champions League T20 trophies (2010 & 2014) and 4 IPL titles (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021).
