Published: Dec 30, 2014, 04:02 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 30, 2014, 04:02 PM (IST)
Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from all forms of cricket after playing his 200th Test at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, last year, wished outgoing India Test skipper MS Dhoni, following the latter’s Test cricket retirement with immediate effect.
well done on a wonderful career in test cricket @msdhoni. Always enjoyed playing together. Next target 2015 WC my friend!!
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) December 30, 2014
In 2007, it was Tendulkar who had suggested Dhoni’s name for captaincy to Sharad Pawar. Pawar had later revealed, “Accordingly, the BCCI’s selection committee chose Dhoni as the team captain. And he did India proud. We won the Twenty20 World Cup and, later, the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai as well. Handsome praise was heaped on the new captain which he rightly deserved. This happened because of Sachin’s far-sightedness.”
Dhoni sighted reasons of not being able to play all three formats and has chosen to retire in order to concentrate limited-over formats of the game. The announcement comes just weeks before India are due to begin their defence of the ICC World Cup 2015 trophy that Dhoni lifted on home soil in 2011.
Virat Kohli, who was the vice-captain under Dhoni, will lead the Indian team in the fourth and final Test against Australia that begins in Sydney on January 6.
While India managed to draw in the third Test in Melbourne earlier on Tuesday, it was not enough to prevent Australia from regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The 33-year-old Dhoni, who is also the team’s wicketkeeper, took over as Test skipper in 2008 after a successful spell captaining the one-day and T20 sides.
Under his leadership, India became the top-ranked Test nation in 2009, building on their victory in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007 in Dhoni’s first outing as captain.
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