During his nine-year long international cricket career, Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned the adjectives like instinctive and unpredictable for his decisions, sometimes bizarre but often effective. And he made sure his last act further boosts the image. The 33-year-old Dhoni, statistically India’s best captain ever, once again surprised the cricketing world by announcing his retirement from Test cricket shortly after the third Test against Australia ended in a draw on Tuesday.
It was indeed a surprising decision to retire mid-way in an important series but those who have followed him closely know he is not the one to follow the rules or show any emotions. He has always been unorthodox and wore an expression-less face. That’s why when he came for the post match press conference, he didn’t speak about his retirement. He talked about India’s performance, Australia’s decision to declare late, debutant lokesh Rahul, struggling Rohit Sharma and keeping Suresh Raina on bench. But not about his retirement.
There was no prior announcement, which would have reduced the third Test to a farewell match, or post-retirement speech to show his gratitude towards people who helped him become what he is. Not even a press conference. He did it his way, without revealing anything until the last moment, remaining practical till the end. Arguably the most famous cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni certainly deserves to have a grand farewell. During his tenure as captain, Indian cricket saw unprecedented heights of being No. 1 Test team in the world.
FAIRYTAlE
His rise from the cricketing backwaters to the most prestigious job in Indian cricket — Test captaincy — is nothing less than a fairytale. He is an inspiration for lakhs of small town kids; an assurance that dreams, however big they are, does come true. A famous line from a poem by renowned Indian poet Dushyant Kumar, “Kaun kehta hai Aasman mein surakh nahin ho sakta, Ek paththar to Tabiyat se uchhalo toh Yaaron (Who says you can’t make a hole in the sky, how about hurling a stone at it with convictionIJ)” perfectly sums up Dhoni’s success story.
A ticket inspector in Indian Railways, Dhoni even failed to break into the Railways’ Ranji Trophy side before getting selected for Bihar. He made no ripples in the domestic cricket to be noticed by anyone. It was when he slammed two centuries in a triangular 50-over tournament for India ‘A’ in Nairobi in 2004, Dhoni came into focus.
The long-haired 23-year-old boy from Ranchi soon swaggered his way into international cricket with ODI innings of 148 and 183 within a year of his debut. Despite all the criticism that his technique — both batting and wicketkeeping — attracted, it took him only one year to earn the trust of his seniors that he was ready to play Test cricket. Dhoni’s ascension to ODI and Test captaincy was only a natural progression after he led a bunch of kids to win World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007 and displayed his leadership qualities. Amazingly, he achieved all that in just two years of his international debut.
With so many senior players in the team, the real challenge for him was to handle the egos. And it proved to be his biggest success later on as the Indian team touched unprecedented heights in Test cricket with senior players enjoying some of their best years in international cricket. Dhoni brought in a new style of captaincy that was hitherto unseen in Indian cricket. He was thick skinned and was relatively indifferent to the results. His ability to stay calm amid the storms worked well for him, although he received flak for his tactical errors, especially in Test cricket. However, Indian team’s tangible achievements under Dhoni kept him on the job so far.
Though critics were always after Dhoni’s head, the eight straight Test losses in England and Australia put him under immense pressure and it was further accentuated by a 2-1 loss at home against England in 2012-13 — India first home series loss in eight years. A born fighter, Dhoni came out with more determination and played his best Test innings on a rank-turner against Australia in Chennai to win the match and became the first Indian captain to win four matches in a series.
Wrong TimingIJ
Having survived the tsunami of criticism, Dhoni’s decision to retire mid-way through the series is baffling. There was only one Test left in the series and playing one more match wouldn’t have “strained” — as was mentioned as the reason behind his abrupt announcement in the BCCI’s press statement — his mind and body. And if he needed rest before the upcoming triangular ODI series and then the World Cup, would anybody have stopped himIJ What was the hurry to bid good-bye to Test cricketIJ And, so unceremoniously after losing a Test seriesIJ
India are not scheduled to play another Test series for the next several months anyway. The announcement could easily have come after the World Cup. Nobody would have dropped him. The last time a selector tried to do that, he lost his job. He is one of the most powerful figure in Indian cricket. It is hard to believe that the Test series loss against Australia forced him to do so. What happened in Melbourne is and will always remain a mystery. He will never let you know why he took this decision or any other in his career. But that’s Dhoni, plain and simple.