Why Dhoni is rumored to be retiring

There are many incidents and events that contributed to the slow buildup of the rumor of MS Dhoni’s retirement and recent incidents have done nothing other than fan the flames. The fact that Dhoni has already retired from test cricket, hasn’t played any international matches in over half a year, and recently, his name being absent from BCCI’s list of Central Contracts invoked another wave of retirement rumors.

The last match he played was against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup Semifinals, in July of last year. Following that, he missed an ODI tour of the West Indies while helping out in south Kashmir for a large part of the end of last year. For those unknowing, MS Dhoni serves as an honorary lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. In Kashmir, he served fulfilled guard duties, patrols and other related activities for a period that lasted roughly a month. 

Discussions about Dhoni’s participation in future events have invoked comments from a lot of people, including Sunil Gavaskar, who hinted (only a matter of days ago), “Does anybody keep himself away from playing for India for that long? That is the question and therein lies the answer”

Nothing has been clear about Dhoni’s future, until yesterday. Read on to find out more.

Why Dhoni isn’t retiring anytime soon, despite the rumors

There is a simple explanation as to why Dhoni wasn’t in BCCI’s Central Contract list this year – he hasn’t played any competitive cricket for the last 6 months. 

But fans have been asking questions, mostly to the effect of “When (or if) Dhoni will play next”. The vice-president and managing director of Indian Cements, (the company that owns Chennai Super Kings) spoke out yesterday about the matter. Srinivasa, the aforementioned VC of Indian Cements, said “He[Dhoni] will play. I can assure you. He will play this year. Next year he will go (to) the auction; he will be retained.”

While Dhoni hasn’t spoken personally about the matter, these are very reassuring words indeed. His performance in IPL 2020 will determine his participation in the T20 World Cup in Australia this October. Ravi Shastri, Team India’s coach, confirmed the same when he asked fans to be patient about Dhoni’s future. 

“It all depends on when he starts playing and how he is playing during the IPL. What other people are doing with the wicket-keeping gloves or what is the form of those players as opposed to Dhoni’s form. The IPL becomes a massive tournament because that could be the last tournament after which more or less your 15 is decided,” said Shastri in a recent IANS interview.

 

Moreover, the former captain of the Indian team has started training with the Jharkhand team last Thursday, no doubt in the process of getting back into the flow of things. This itself is a strong indicator that Dhoni isn’t tossing the towel anytime soon, at least not till IPL this year and possibly T20 of this year. 

Dhoni has led India to victory twice already, once in the Inaugural T20 world title in 2007 and once again in 2011 World Cup. He has played in over 90 Test matches, 350 ODIs and has made more than 17,000 runs. It will surely be a sad day when the national cricket hero finally retires.

Comment your views on his retirement below.

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