Legendary Indian captain MS Dhoni shocked the world in 2014 when he announced his decision to quit Test cricket in the middle of the Border-Gavaskar trophy down under. MS Dhoni decided to retire from the longest format of the game, out of the blue, after a drawn Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Following this, Virat Kohli took over the reins in the middle of the series.
Former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri, who was the team manager of Team India at that time, recalled the incident and his meeting with MS Dhoni. Shastri recalled how MS Dhoni told him that he wanted to have a chat with the players in the dressing room as he thought that the former skipper will address the team about the result of the match.
Shastri also revealed that he knew he was confident that Virat Kohli will be the player to lead the Indian team after MS Dhoni. Speaking to Star Sports, Shastri said:
“I knew that the moment MS Dhoni finishes, Virat Kohli is the guy to lead the side. He (MS Dhoni) knew who was the next leader in line,” He added: “He was waiting for an opportune time to make the announcement. He knew how much his body could take and he wanted to prolong his white-ball career. When your body tells you it’s enough, it’s enough, there are no second thoughts about that,”
He added:
“Well, it came as a surprise. He came to me and said ‘I want to say something to the boys’. I said ‘sure’. I thought he was going to say something about the draw. He comes out. I just saw the faces around the dressing room. Most of the boys were in a state of shock when MS made the announcement. But that’s MS for you,”
Ravi Shastri also talked about the recent sacking of Virat Kohli from the position of ODI captain. He feels that it can come as a blessing in disguise for Kohli, who can focus more on his batting now. He said:
“I think it’s the right way to go (2 captains for white-ball and red-ball cricket). This could be a blessing in disguise for Virat and for Rohit. I don’t think in this era with bubble life one guy can handle all three (captaincy in all three formats). It’s not easy at all,”
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