Could Dhoni have been wiser to stay more?

Could Dhoni have been wiser to stay more?


Introduction

Soon after the India-Australia match was drawn at Melbourne, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain, came out with a shocking decision. He declared his retirement from Test cricket. But he will continue playing ODIs and T-20s.

Dhoni has played 90 test matches, out of which he has led India in 60. Under his captaincy, India has won 27 matches and, thus, he has broken the record of Sourav Ganguly (the previous captain).

Was it right on his part to take this decision so early? Let us have a look.

Yes – A right decision.

1. Responsibility handover – Dhoni is impressed with the performance of Virat Kohli in the Australian series. He thinks Kohli is ready to lead India. And hence, Dhoni decided to handover the captaincy to Kohli.

2. Injury – Dhoni's injury on his elbow was also a reason for his decision to retire. He was unable to give his best. According to BCCI, “Dhoni is not somebody who plays if he feels that he can't give his best shot.”

3. ODI and T20s – Dhoni retired only from Test cricket as he wanted to concentrate more on ODIs and T20 matches.

4. Strain – For the last two months, Dhoni underwent a lot of strain in Australia. He was unable to take more of the Test matches. His recent test records were not much impressive.

5. No recent Test matches – After losing the series against Australia, Dhoni felt it better to retire from Test matches. As there are very few Test matches coming in shortly, he felt this was the right time.

No – He should have played more.

1. Record breaker – Under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly India had won 21 matches. This was the highest record. But Dhoni broke his record and led India to win 27 matches. He should have stayed back and broken more records.

2. Complete series – Instead of retiring in the middle of a series, he could have completed the series between India and Australia. He could have helped India win the remaining two matches.

3. Impact – Dhoni's sudden retirement in the middle of a series would also have an effect on the players. A sudden change of captaincy may be uncomfortable for the team players.

4. Proved himself – Dhoni's past few performances in the Test matches were not so impressive. He could have played a few more matches to prove himself once again. He could have retired with a lot more glory.

5. Team builder – Dhoni was a good team builder. He took the team to the greatest heights. He could have played more and encouraged his team.

Conclusion

Dhoni's retirement from the Test matches gave a shock to many. But according to the BCCI, he had started giving the hints from past few months. Cricketers and BCCI congratulated the skipper for his contributions to team India.
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    Discussion

  • RE: Could Dhoni have been wiser to stay more? -Rohit (01/07/15)
  • I think Dhoni is first indian captain to won most test matches. He has most experience player in today's indian team.Team needs his extraordinary experience to retain the winning victory.So Dhoni has to retain in test cricket till the other player will be become more experience in international platform.
  • RE: Could Dhoni have been wiser to stay more? -Deepa Kaushik (01/02/15)
  • Taking retirement from the game should be the player’s own sensible decision. There is no set age limit for retirement in the cricket, but players themselves are the best judges to understand and analyse their performance. The cricketer who is a good performer has a lot many fans to follow who would never accept his retirement. But that doesn’t mean that the player can stay in form for ever. Their age, stamina, ability everything reflects on their performance level which in turn affects the performance of the team as a whole.

    We should respect and accept Dhoni’s decision to take retirement from his test performance, unless this decision is taken forcibly. He had been a good cricketer and performer. He is well aware of his potential and performance chart. He could analyse his record in a better way than any other fan. If Dhoni feels better to retire from test cricket, we should ideally honour his decision.

    Yes, we can say that Dhoni could have stayed a little bit more with his captaincy to complete this test series. It becomes more difficult for a team when their captain changes during the mid-series. It could reflect on the performance of other players as well. But, just for this reason, we cannot blame Dhoni to have created a menace. The players need to play and concentrate on their game and should yield their best performance. Thus, we should appreciate Dhoni’s decision and honour his contributions to the cricket so far during his career.