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Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni drew curtains on his glorious career after announcing his retirement from international cricket on August 15. He broke the news by sharing a montage of his 16-year long, illustrious journey on Instagram.
The Ranchi-lad last appeared for Team India in the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. He scored 50 of 72 deliveries before a marvellous throw from Martin Guptill sent him back towards the pavilion.
RP Singh, former Indian pacer and Dhoni’s close friend, has opened up on the possible reasons that might have forced the veteran stumper to bid adieu to international cricket.
Singh believes that the postponement of T20 World Cup, originally scheduled to be held this year in Australia, played a crucial role in forcing Dhoni to announce his retirement.
“Of course, it has. He has been a massive player in T20s so he wanted to wait until the big event. Besides that, age and fitness also contributed to his decision. If you leave aside IPL, he hardly got any opportunity to display his batting for India in ODIs for the last 12-15 months,” Singh told cricket.com.
‘Dhoni also was not able to finish off games’
Dhoni’s realisation that his finishing prowess has plummeted in the last few years might be another factor compelling him to take retirement.
“In the 2019 World Cup, he may have wanted to bat at number 4 but that was not done because of team management and in the lower order, he barely got a chance until the semi-final game.”
“Oddly, he also was not able to finish off games the way he used to do earlier. Maybe that also gave him the signal that he was reaching his end and he needed to take a call on his future,” Singh concluded.
