On this day, December 30, 2014: MS Dhoni announced his retirement from Test career. The decision came as a surprise during India’s Test series on Australian soil in 2014-15. There was another match scheduled in the series but MS Dhoni decided to retire before it. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released an official statement to put forth the development of Dhoni’s retirement from the Test format. It was learned that Dhoni took the decision due to “the strain of playing all formats”
“BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India. Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian team for the fourth and final Test against Australia to be played in Sydney,” the statement added.
After he became the captain, India lost only one of Dhoni’s first 13 Test series in charge, winning eight of them. This run saw them to top of the world rankings from late 2009 until the summer of 2011, a period in which Dhoni also led his team to victory in the one-day World Cup on home soil.
Dhoni also once held the record for the most wins as captain in Tests. In 60 Tests, he led India to 27 victories. It was in 2019 that Kohli went past him to become India’s most successful Test skipper.
In 90 Test matches, Dhoni scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 and a strike-rate of 59.11 with six hundreds and 33 fifties to his name. His highest score of 224 came against Australia back in 2013 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In what was his final Test innings, MS Dhoni scored an unbeaten 24 in the second innings of his last Test as the match ended in a draw. Chasing a massive target of 384, India finished with 174 for six in 66 overs and the match ended in a draw.
