Published: Jan 02, 2015, 04:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 02, 2015, 04:45 PM (IST)
Jan 2, 2015
MS Dhoni’s retirement from Tests not only shocked the entire world but many within the team had no sniff of it. Team Director Ravi Shastri says that he was stumped after he hearing MS Dhoni‘s decision. In fact, Dhoni had not even mentioned it to his family. “I think we were all stumped. It came like a bolt from the blue. Not till after he returned from the post-match presentation did I come to know when he had a quick word with me, then the players. I understand he had not even spoken to his family about it”.
Shastri was quick to praise Dhoni terming his retirement as courageous and added that here was no rift between him and Virat Kohli. “It was, no doubt, an unexpected decision, but a courageous one. In my esteem, Dhoni has gone up by miles. He hasn’t waited to complete 100 Tests and all such pointless statistical stuff. He didn’t want any farewell fanfare. That shows his character. He’s different and quite remarkable. You guys have no idea of the respect Dhoni commands, not just from Virat but every member of the squad, support staff and administrators,” Shastri told Ayaz Memon as reported by Asian Age.
The former India captain went on to give his opinion on what made Dhoni different from other players. “The composure given his dramatic rise to superstardom, the way he handled egos as captain, consistency of performance and total commitment to the cause of Indian cricket. In fact, the way he conducted himself over a decade in all aspects. But wait, you are making this sound like an obituary! He is still around and I think he has enough left in him to play limited overs cricket like a king,” said Shastri.
Shastri believes that through a bit of luck the result in the series against Australia could have been different. He was also not too bothered by Kohli’s aggression. He said,”That’s his personality. He is aggressive, passionate and wears his heart on his sleeve. But he’s also prepared to walk the talk. Remember also, he’s only 26 and still getting used to captaincy”.
Talking of the future prospects of Indian cricket Shastri feels that here is lot of hard work still to be done. “There’s hard work ahead. We have to get or develop bowlers who get 20 wickets regularly. But, I am bullish. The most important thing is we have got an aggressive mindset. Let’s talk 12-15 months down the road,” Shastri added.
