Dhoni retires from tests

[from_the_stands]

I can't say I'm surprised that MSD has called it a day, although I can't help but feel that just maybe he was tapped on the shoulder. I quite like Virat Kohli. I really don't care if he shoots his mouth off, he's hardly Robinson Crusoe in that respect. Dhoni has been a great player for India, leading it to arguably it's most successful period. His form in this current series was poor, along with his much maligned captaincy. From an Oz point of view, India look a stronger side with Kohli wearing the armband. I reckon India will prosper under Virat, although they do need to address their issue with cleaning up a tail. I liked the comparison someone made earlier with Arjuna Rantatunga. Virat is aggressive and obviously doesn't like to lose, similar to Ranatunga, which must be a good thing for India. Good luck to MSD in his retirement, and good luck to VK as his reign moves forward.

[Dr Cricket]

The stuff I see about Dhoni not caring for Tests doesn't stand up to scrutiny, and feels a little insulting.

This was a significant Test career, if not a wholly successful one. With ten years at the top playing for India, most of it as captain, his end feels epochal.

Hit it on the nail here Arthur.

Some of the criticism said and written about Dhoni was pathetic yesterday, I just don't understand why anyone would criticise a retired player, Criticise him when he plays but it should mostly stop when he retires.

If Dhoni never cared about test he would never play 90 test, be india best ever keeper/bat, number 7 batsman take so many blow to the body and not even flinch.
There a difference between not being good enough and not caring about test.

If I was Dhoni I be insulted right now you play 90 test for your country, score 4,876 runs take india to the number 1 ranking for 18 months and all people do is talk about your bad times. It would hurt Dhoni the most all those overseas losses and it is so pathetic to suggest he didn't care about Test cricket or all those losses.

[rich1uk]

so you want people to lie bhav rather than give their honest opinion of what they thought they saw in him ?

[Dr Cricket]

so you want people to lie bhav rather than give their honest opinion of what they thought they saw in him ?

rich do you honestly believe Dhoni never cared about test.
There a difference between not caring and not being good enough.

[rich1uk]

so you want people to lie bhav rather than give their honest opinion of what they thought they saw in him ?

rich do you honestly believe Dhoni never cared about test.
There a difference between not caring and not being good enough.

I never said he didn't care , I said he looked like he gave up when things got on top of the team in tests , and if that's how he appears its hard for the rest of the team to try and show some fight

maybe that's not true but that's how it looked to me in the last couple of tours of England and Australia

as soon as the opponents got on top there didn't seem to be any enthusiasm of signs of motivation coming from him and he appeared to just let games coast

[Dr Cricket]

Dhoni stayed as captain for too long, looked clueless on the field in overseas test. But is far from the truth to suggest he never cared about test that is pretty insulting to the man.

[rich1uk]

Dhoni stayed as captain for too long, looked clueless on the field in overseas test. But is far from the truth to suggest he never cared about test that is pretty insulting to the man.

you are over-reacting bhav

I don't think anyone said he never cared about tests at any point , but there have been times where he has looked disinterested over the last few years and that's a pretty bad trait for a captain to have

[Dr Cricket]

Dhoni stayed as captain for too long, looked clueless on the field in overseas test. But is far from the truth to suggest he never cared about test that is pretty insulting to the man.

you are over-reacting bhav

I don't think anyone said he never cared about tests at any point , but there have been times where he has looked disinterested over the last few years and that's a pretty bad trait for a captain to have

Not really talking about people in this forum but people in the press and indian media, Paul newman etc.

One guy had a piers morgan Alaistar Cook type rant on Dhoni in one of the Indian news channels.

[shankycricket]

His attitude on the field during all those overseas losses certainly didn't suggest he was too hurt or disappointed by those losses. The idea that you can't criticise a player after his retirement is one of the most ludicrous things I've heard. I'd much rather people be blunt and honest rather than sugar coating facts and hypocritically waxing lyrical about a player they've criticised just because he is retiring. The fact that he is India's greatest wicket keeper batsman of all time has no relevance to his listless and seemingly disinterested Test captaincy in the last 4 years, I'm afraid, which, as M_S rightly pointed out, is better reflected in his body language, or comments that results don't matter or that a Test series defeat DOESNT EVEN COME CLOSE TO HURTING unlike the 2007 World Cup exit.

[rich1uk]

when he retires from all forms of cricket I will happily compliment him on what he brought to the game but expecting a eulogy for someone who is retiring solely from one format and that retirement probably being a couple of years too late is asking too much imo

[shankycricket]

when he retires from all forms of cricket I will happily compliment him on what he brought to the game but expecting a eulogy for someone who is retiring solely from one format and that retirement probably being a couple of years too late is asking too much imo

Nail on the head. If he was retiring from ODIs, a format in which he is one of the greatest, then we all would've reacted completely differently. Expecting an euology on him in Tests, a format in which he has been holding the team back for at least the last 2 years is akin to expecting euologies on Shahid Afridi, when he retires.

[Albondiga]

Whatever your opinions about Dhoni the test player he will be sorely missed . Captaining India is immensely difficult _ Kholi will learn that soon enough.

[Making_Splinters]

I don't know why it is so difficult to have an open discussion about Indian cricketers. Anything less than complete adulation seems to be met with derision. CMS is certainly a lot better than most message boards in this regard, but emotive terms such as pathetic are still thrown around in responce to other posters' observations rather than any attempt to engage in rational debate.

This has gone on for a long time, when Tendulkar was clearly on the wane any comment looking at his current form and role in the Indian side was treated as some kind of heresy, similar trends were seen with the decline of Sehwag, Gambhir and VVS, though it must be said that VVS is an under rated cricketer in England.

Maybe it is a cultural differance, English fans are often very critical of their own players, maybe not.

[Dr Cricket]

I just think it is insulting for anyone to question his love for Test cricket.
People are free to criticise his captaincy but to say he doesn't care about test cricket is not on.

[Making_Splinters]

I just think it is insulting for anyone to question his love for Test cricket.
People are free to criticise his captaincy but to say he doesn't care about test cricket is not on.

Why is it not on? What reason is there to arbitrarily say we can't question a player's commitment? Over the year's KPs commitment to ODIs have been called into question many times, I don't recall anyone saying, "Oh you can't do that, it's not on".