India’s most successful limited-overs skipper steps down after leading in 199 ODIs and 72 T20Is, decides to continue as player
With less than 20 hours to go before five wise men of Indian cricket were to meet to pick squad for three One-dayinternationals and as many T20s against England, Mahendra Singh Dhoni quietly decided to step down from captaincy late on Wednesday.
This may have come as a shock for cricket lovers but not for those who have been following the recent developments with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) where entire bunch of officials, including president Anurag Thakur, were sacked by Supreme Court on January 2. However, Dhoni has written to the BCCI's chief executive officer (CEO) Rahul Johri that "he will still be available for selection as a wicket-keeper batsman for the upcoming series against England starting from January 15.
The sword over Dhoni's captaincy in shorter format was hanging ever since Mohinder Amarnath's name was suggested, as the "cricketers' representative" in the panel of administrators, to the Supreme Court by Justice RM Lodha panel on December 15.
During Amarnath's maiden tenure as selector in 2012, it is said that he wanted to replace Dhoni as ODI captain for the triangular series Down Under.
With N Srinivasan at the helm of BCCI then, it was Amarnath who was unceremoniously sacked after just one year and not Dhoni, who lost eight Test matches in England and Australia on a trot. But now that Amarnath's name doing the rounds again, Dhoni would have sensed the urgency.
Virat, in waiting
The 35-year-old from Jharkhand had earlier quit Test captaincy during the Australia tour in 2014 in Melbourne in almost the similar way. And it was young and flamboyant Virat Kohli who was given responsibility of leading Team India Test team there after.
Given the performances of Kohli and his team ever since, where Indian Test team touched new landmark in Indian cricket by extending their unbeaten streak to 18 matches, a debate amongst cricket experts had already been started whether "this is the most appropriate time for struggling Dhoni to pass on the baton".
Dhoni took over captaincy in 2007 and shot into limelight leading the team to Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa. Under his captaincy, India won ICC ODI World Cup in 2011, ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 and also reached the top of the Test rankings in 2009.
Dhoni is just one match short of captaining India in 200 One-dayers. A personal record he may never achieve after Wednesday's decision.
But it was soon after 2013 spot-fixing saga when his Indian Premier League team came under clout of betting and spot-fixing that his personal performance took the hit. His statement in front of Justice Mukul Mudgal where he termed his team principal Gurunath Meiyappan a mere "cricket enthusiast" brought him a lot of bad publicity in and out of Supreme Court rooms.
There were even murmurs that the sealed envelop submitted by Justice Mudgal panel after investigation which contains 13 names of players and administrators allegedly involved in wrongdoing in cricket also had the name of an Indian captain.
It is another matter that this sealed envelop is still in the safe custody of the apex court and no one with in BCCI or Justice Lodha panel has ever tried to bring it into public domain.
With Srinivasan's exit from BCCI and now from Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, Dhoni's future in ODI team could also be a topic of discussion especially, when Wriddhiman Saha and Parthiv Patel are not just doing well behind the wickets but also contributing with bat to team's success.
BCCI's CEO, meanwhile, has thanked Dhoni for his outstanding contribution as captain across all formats.
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