File image of MS Dhoni and Ravi Shastri© Twitter/Ravi Shastri
MS Dhoni shocked the world of cricket on December 30, 2014 when, at the end of the drawn Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne, he announced his retirement from the longest format of the game. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who was the team director of the Indian side at the moment, recalled the moment on Sunday and revealed that nobody in the team was aware of Dhoni’s decision before he “casually” informed them of the same after the game.
Speaking on Star Sports, Shastri said 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.
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“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.
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