MS Dhoni, one of the most successful captains of India, has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on Saturday (August 15). In recent years he was playing only in the limited-overs formats as back in 2014, after the Boxing Day fixture in Melbourne during the tour of Australia, Dhoni quit Test cricket. Later in January 2017 he handed over ODI and T20I captaincy to Virat Kohli.
Under Dhoni India have won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011, ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 and ICC Champion’s Trophy in 2013. Also, he was the captain when India became the No. 1 ranked Test team of the world for the first time. Alongside these achievements as a leader, he is undoubtedly the best finisher Indian cricket has ever produced, especially in the limited-overs format.
Dhoni declared about his retirement through an Instagram post.
“Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired (sic)”, read his post of the formal announcement.
In his glorious international career which lasted almost 16 years following his debut back in 2004, the Ranchi lad played 350 ODIs and scored 10773 runs at an average of 50.57. He has 10 centuries and 73 fifties to his name. In January 2019 Dhoni became fifth Indian and 12th overall to score 10,000 runs in ODIs.
In 98 T20Is, the wicketkeeper-batsman has 1617 runs and maintained an average of 37.60. Whereas in Test cricket, Dhoni featured in 90 matches and got 4876 at 38.09, including six centuries.
In the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) Dhoni will be seen back in action for the first time since last year’s ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester. In fact, that match in which he scored a fighting 72-ball 50 in a tight run-chase, now becomes his final appearance at the international level.