Mahendra Singh Dhoni announces retirement from international cricket

Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired, MS Dhoni said in an Instagram post

The veteran India wicket-keeper batsman and two time World Cup winner Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket in an Instagram post on Saturday (August 15).

Dhoni's post on Instagram states: "Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired"

Sources say Dhoni planned to retire after the T20 Cricket World Cup but his plan changed as the tournament was postponed.

On Friday, Dhoni and some of his Chennai Super Kings (CSK) colleagues arrived in Chennai on Friday for a short training camp ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) to be played in the in UAE from September 19 to November 10.

Dhoni will lead CSK in IPL 2020, making an eagerly-awaited return to competitive cricket after India lost to New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup semifinal.

"Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. from 1929hrs consider me as retired," Dhoni posted on his instagram handle.

The announcement came a day after he joined his Chennai Super kings teammates at the side's home base for a short training camp ahead of the players' departure to the UAE next week.

His last outing in India colours was during the lost World Cup semifinal against New Zealand in July last year.

One of the best runners between the wickets was run out following a hard-earned 50 in that tense game, shattering Indian hopes and leaving him in a state of disbelief.

Ever since he went on a sabbatical after that match, speculation raged over his future but he stoically avoided a response for over a year.

The reticent man from Ranchi will, however, go down as one of the finest to have played the game for India, turning up for the country in a whopping 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20 Internationals.

The last leg of his career was, however, marred by a drop in form, prompting several critics to question his resolve to continue.

But he nevertheless signs off as an ODI legend with 10,773 runs, averaging more than 50 despite batting between No.5 and 7 for a major chunk of his career.

In the Test format, from which he retired in 2014, Dhoni accumulated 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 and led India to more wins (27) than anyone else before him.

However, runs are not the parameter on which Dhoni's career can be truly judged.

Considered a punter by some and a master strategist by several others, it was Dhoni's captaincy, wondrous reading of match situations and the jaw-dropping hand-speed behind stumps that had the cricket world mesmerised.

A leader even after he gave up the official tag of the leader, Dhoni will be remembered as the nonconformist, who made risks look like well thought-out strategy.

Whether it was handing the ball to rookie Joginder Sharma in the final over of the 2007 World T20 or pushing himself ahead of man-in-form Yuvraj Singh in the 2011 50-over World Cup, Dhoni's instincts rarely failed him.

For the record, India lifted the trophy on both occasions, propelling him to cult status in a country which remains hopelessly in love with all things cricket.

The IPL was also his happy hunting ground where he was the revered 'Thala', leading the Chennai Super Kings to three trophies.

The most significant of those titles came last season when the side made its return to the event after a two-year suspension for its official Gurunath Meiyappan's role in the 2013 spot-fixing scandal.

CSK CEO Kasi Vishwanathan recently stated that the big-hitting batsman will continue to play for the franchise at least till 2022.

Dhoni spent the past year training with his unit in the Territorial Army, where he is an honorary lieutenant colonel, trying his hand at organic farming at his home in Ranchi, and occasionally hitting the nets to send the media and fans into a tizzy.

MS Dhoni in International cricket

ODIs

In 341 ODI matches that he has played so far, he has scored a total of 10,500 runs at an average of 50.72 and an impressive strike rate of 87.55. He has scored 10 hundreds and 70 fifties in ODIs, and his highest ODI score is 183, which is also the highest score by any wicketkeeper-batsman in the world. Dhoni is the first non-Australian and third overall to win 100 games as captain.

T20 Internationals

In 96 T20I matches, he has so far scored 1,548 runs at an average of 36.86 and a superb strike rate of 126.68. He has scored two fifties.

Test cricket

Dhoni played his first Test match against Sri Lanka at M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on December 2, 2005. He was named the captain of the Indian cricket team in the longest format of the game after the retirement of Anil Kumble in 2008. Under his captaincy, India became the number one side in Test cricket for the first time, in 2009. He was also the first Indian wicketkeeper batsman to complete 4,000 runs in Test cricket. Dhoni announced his retirement from Tests after the Boxing Day Test against Australia in 2014. However, one record that that Captain Cool holds but would not like to is that of the most number of overseas Test defeats (15) by an Indian captain.