MS Dhoni's Test Retirement Announcement: The Untold Decision

(Suresh Raina taking a selfie with MS Dhoni after he announced retirement from the test format)

It was the year 2014 when India was playing against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy when a sudden announcement from the Board of Control for Cricket in India came out that India’s test skipper MS Dhoni had announced his retirement from the toughest format of the game on immediate basis and now Virat Kohli will be captaining the Indian team. For cricket fans worldwide, this decision came out as a shock as imagining an Indian team without MS Dhoni was disappointing and hence they won’t be seeing Dhoni in the white jersey again. The image above was taken when MS Dhoni went to Suresh Raina with teary eyes and told him to take a selfie as he is never going to wear this jersey again. That moment was even more shocking for Suresh Raina as he wasn’t expecting his best friend to retire like this.

Why MS Dhoni retired in between the Border-Gavaskar Series

It was the night of 30th December 2014 when MS Dhoni decided that he has played the last test for the Indian team and hence announced to his teammates that he is retiring from the purest format of the game and had handed the captaincy reigns to Virat Kohli. Despite the match ending, Dhoni didn't mention anything about retirement during post-match talks, leaving everyone unaware. Instead of making a big announcement at the press conference or ceremony, the news came out later through a quiet press release by the BCCI. Dhoni's unexpected decision left cricket fans shocked and led to many questions about why he chose to retire at that moment. It marked the end of an era for Indian cricket, as Dhoni's absence from Test matches created a noticeable gap in the team.

In the statement released by the Board, it was stated that

“One of India's greatest Test captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the test rankings, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket. BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India. Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian team for the fourth and final Test against Australia to be played in Sydney.”

Later, it was revealed that MS Dhoni took this decision after he found that it was becoming difficult for him to cope with the stress of playing all the 3 formats for the Indian team along with having the captaincy with him. Furthermore, he was looking to get a young captain and hoped to pass on the baton to get the team at the top after he was done with the test format. His thought of taking the Indian team to the top by Virat Kohli forced him to retire from the game and focus on the white ball captaincy that allowed the Indian team to do well in all the 3 formats.

(MS Dhoni in the test series against Australia)

On his YouTube Channel, R Ashwin spoke about MS Dhoni’s test retirement where he recalled the moments when he decided to end his test career. He said that along with MS Dhoni and me, Ishant Sharma, and Suresh Raina were sitting in the room where the former captain got a few tears in his eyes and he was wearing India’s test jersey the whole evening. Furthermore, he said that once Melbourne’s test match ended up in a draw, MS picked up a stump and walked quietly to the dressing room without saying anything to anyone.

The Tale of Dhoni's Test Cricket Era

In a career spanning from 2005, Dhoni graced the Test arena, playing 90 matches. With the bat, he amassed 4876 runs at an average of 38. A standout moment came in Chennai in 2013, where he scored a remarkable 224 against Australia. Dhoni's wicket-keeping skills were equally impressive, effecting 294 dismissals behind the stumps. His contributions as both a batsman and wicketkeeper cemented his legacy as one of cricket's finest.

Player	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	Draw	N0-Result	W/L	%W
Virat Kohli	68	40	17	0	11	0	2.35	58.82
MS Dhoni	60	27	18	0	15	0	1.50	45.00
Sourav Ganguly	49	21	13	0	15	0	1.61	42.85
Mohammad Azharuddin	47	14	14	0	19	0	1.00	29.78
Sunil Gavaskar	47	9	8	0	30	0	1.12	19.14

(List of India’s most successful Test Captains)

Considered as one of the most successful Test captains of the Indian team, MS Dhoni took off the test captaincy in 2008 when Anil Kumble was injured in the Kanpur test against South Africa. In 2009, MS Dhoni took the team to the number 1 position when they defeated Sri Lanka by an innings in Mumbai. However, under his captaincy, the Indian Test team has gone through a lot of ups and downs and hence there have been mixed reactions to the way he led the team.

(MS Dhoni walking off the ground after saving the MCG test in 2014)

In the test format, Dhoni used to be defensive and his tactics were criticised a lot by the fans and former players. He always used to go for a draw despite the match being in control and hence India hardly chased any target in the fourth innings under him. In the 60 test matches that India played under him, they won 27 of them while losing 18 and managing a draw in 15 of them. His test record at home made him one of the best captains but his record in overseas tests was poor by his standards.

He never won a test match in Australia but he managed to draw a series in South Africa and got wins in New Zealand and West Indies. However, his test record against England and Australia looked poor as in 2011, he was whitewashed on the England tour 4-0 while lost the first three test matches against Australia too and then was suspended from the fourth match due to a slow over rate. In 2014, Dhoni's batting form dipped, averaging 33 in 17 innings, raising concerns despite his secure place in India's Test squad. His wicket-keeping skills also showed signs of decline, notably in lateral movement for catches. India's overseas performances under Dhoni's leadership faced scrutiny, with mixed results.