Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri was a part of many memorable tours and cricket matches during his time with the Indian cricket team. One of the moments that Shastri was a part of was MS Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket. The former Indian cricket team head coach has revealed many lesser-known details about the Indian dressing room in interviews after leaving the position as the head coach.
Speaking to Star Sports recently, Ravi Shastri narrated the incident of how MS Dhoni casually announced his retirement from Test cricket in the Indian dressing room after the Test match against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2015. India pulled off a draw against Australia in that match.
However, Dhoni gathered everyone and informed them that he was retiring from Test cricket. Ravi believed that Dhoni made the big decision seeing how Virat Kohli was working in the team’s leadership group. Dhoni felt that his successor was ready. Also, he knew about his physical condition. So Dhoni walked away.
“It came as a huge surprise in Melbourne”- Ravi Shastri recalls MS Dhoni announcing Test retirement
Here’s what Ravi Shastri had to say while sharing the details of MS Dhoni’s address to the team and announcing his retirement from Test cricket.
“It came as a huge surprise in Melbourne when he said ‘I am finishing with Test cricket’. In fact, he just casually walked up to me and said, ‘Ravi bhai, I need to speak to the boys’. I said ‘sure’.”
Ravi thought that the captain MS Dhoni would look to give a motivational or congratulatory message to the players.
“And he comes out, bolt out of the blue, ‘I am done with Test cricket’. And I just saw the faces around the dressing room, they were in a state of shock, most of them. But that’s MS for you,” Shastri added.
