Today morning I woke up to the surprising news that Dhoni has decided to retire from Test Cricket with immediate effect. He will not be playing the last Test of the current series in Sydney. The abruptness of this news took everyone by surprise.
Some former players are very critical of the fact that he had chosen to go mid series. I think in the larger scheme of things this is a very good decision and whether he should have played the last test is a minor point.
I have been a vocal critic of Dhoni, the Test Captain , in the last 3 Years. I believed that away from home his captaincy had reached a dead end. No fresh ideas, no imagination. We kept being hammered and Dhoni continued to do the same things. But he still was good enough to continue as a wicketkeeper batsman for 1-2 years in Tests.
I must confess I have a soft spot for Dhoni as I am also from Ranchi and went to the same school as Dhoni. Dhoni single handedly put Ranchi on the World map. I am obviously very proud of him.
In hindsight this may prove to be one of the best decisions he has taken.
He could easily have hung around for another 10 tests, to archive the milestones of 100 tests, 5000 test runs, 300 dismissals. To his credit he didn't do that. We have seen some of the greatest icons of Indian cricket hankering after these well past their prime. Kapil Dev and Tendulkar come to mind.
Dhoni the Test Captain had to be replaced. But I think his achievements as a wicketkeeper batsman in Tests are greatly under rated. They got overshadowed by his captaincy. By any yardstick he is head and shoulders above all other Indian wicketkeeper batsmen. Kirmani played 98 tests compared to Dhoni's 90, has only 198 dismissals compared to Dhoni's 290. Dhoni was good enough to play purely as a batsman for a majority of his Test career. he has nearly 5000 runs with 6 hundreds with a highest score of 224. He was a match winner with the bat on his day. He was very consistent too. He would invariably score at least 20-30 runs. Rarely would he fail to make a contribution.
But people keep talking about his awkward batting technique and the fact that he was never considered a stumper in the classical mould. But he was always effective. His numbers speak for themselves.
I think the grind of being the wicketkeeper Batsman and captain in all 3 formats as well as IPL took its toll on him and has curtailed his Test career. He is BCCI's golden goose and especially N Srinivasan's and they never tried to balance his workload.
I hope, now freed of Test Captaincy, he will bring India another World Cup.
People are talking of his legacy not realising he is only 33. Misbah and Younus Khan are 40 but still going strong. So Dhoni is here to stay for many more years. At the moment he is one of the best ODI batsman in the World.
His place as one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced is secure. He is the only captain to have won the World Cup, the T20 WC, the Champions Trophy as well as led India to No 1 ranking in Tests.
All of Ranchi will be egging their 'Mahi' to go on and on. The legend of this small town boy may grow bigger and bigger.
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