Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri reveals that the players in the dressing room were left shocked after MS Dhoni decided to retire from test cricket after the 3rd Border Gavaskar test in Melbourne.
During the 2014/15 Australia tour, MS Dhoni shocked the cricketing fraternity by retiring from the red ball format. Team India were playing the third test out of the four match test series. India had already lost the series by 0-2 but showed some great performances in the third test. Minutes after the match ended in a draw, Dhoni made the announcement that shocked the world.
Ravi Shastri who was the director of the team at that time revealed in an interview with Star Sports that Dhoni came to him and said that he wanted to have a chat with the players in the dressing room.
“I knew that the moment MS Dhoni finishes, Virat Kohli is the guy to lead the side. He (MS Dhoni) knew who was the next leader in line,” Shastri told Star Sports.
“He was waiting for an opportune time to make the announcement. He knew how much his body could take and he wanted to prolong his white-ball career. When your body tells you it’s enough, it’s enough, there are no second thoughts about that,” Ravi Shastri added.
“Well, it came as a surprise. He came to me and said ‘I want to say something to the boys’. I said ‘sure’. I thought he was going to say something about the draw. He comes out. I just saw the faces around the dressing room. Most of the boys were in a state of shock when MS made the announcement. But that’s MS for you,” Shastri added.
Team India were not having a good time in the longest format of the game since 2011. Team India were whitewashed by England and Australia in 2011/12. In the year 2014, India suffered another series defeat at England. In Australia, team India were trailing the series by 0-2. That’s when Dhoni decided to hang his gloves in the red ball format.
In 90 tests, Dhoni has scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09. Dhoni has hit 33 half centuries and 6 centuries. His career best of 224 came against Australia in Chennai in 2013.