MS Dhoni announces retirement from international cricket

 

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Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired

A post shared by M S Dhoni (@mahi7781) on Aug 15, 2020 at 7:01am PDT

Despite his retirement, the Chennai Super Kings captain is expected to play in the upcoming IPL 2020 in the UAE, which starts on September 19. On Friday, Dhoni was spotted arriving in Chennai for the team’s training camp.

The 39-year-old had been on a sabbatical from international cricket since India’s semi-final exit in the ODI World Cup last July. For more than a year, he avoided talking about his future but at an event in Mumbai earlier, Dhoni had said questions regarding his return to international cricket should only be asked after January 2020.

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“It is the end of an era. What a player he has been for the country and world cricket. His leadership qualities have been something, which will be hard to match, especially in the shorter format of the game,” said Sourav Ganguly, the president of BCCI.

“His batting in one-day cricket in his early stages made the world stand up and notice his flair and sheer natural brilliance. Every good thing comes to an end and this has been an absolutely brilliant one. He has set the standards for the wicketkeepers to come and make a mark for the country. He will finish with no regrets on the field. An outstanding career; I wish him the best in life.”

Meanwhile…MS Dhoni practising at the Chepauk stadium this evening hours before he made his announcement on international retirement #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/Z2oBTKY17q

— Poornima Murali (@nimumurali) August 15, 2020

The 39-year-old batsman-wicketkeeper is the only captain in the history of cricket to win all ICC trophies.

Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy.

He represented the country in 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20 Internationals. He is an ODI legend with 10,773 runs, averaging more than 50 despite batting between No.5 and 7 for a major chunk of his career.

MS Dhoni retires as a legend of ODI cricket. More than 10,000 runs, an average above 50, involved in more than 200 wins for India, and more than half of those as captain. #DhoniRetires pic.twitter.com/E1xgUX6xJc

— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) August 15, 2020

In the Test format, Dhoni accumulated 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 and led India to more wins (27) than anyone else before him. He retired from red-ball cricket in December 2014.

Dhoni is also India’s most successful wicketkeeper of all time. With a total of 195 stumpings and 634 catches in international matches, Dhoni has set a benchmark with his clinical wicketkeeping skills.

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“We will not get to see him play in international cricket. It’s disheartening to not see him play. He made us win a World Cup after 28 years. Then, we won Champions Trophy under his captaincy. He will play in the IPL and that’s the biggest relief for his fans,” Sunil Gavaskar told Aaj Tak on Saturday.