Sydney: India’s team director Ravi Shastri has revealed that MS Dhoni’s decision to retire from Test cricket came as a “bolt from the blue” to the team, and despite having lost the series 0-2 with a match to go, he was impressed by the performance of the team on the tour. In an interview to PTI, Shastri said that the Australian team and its public have “appreciated” the way the Indian team has played the last three Test matches.
Having observed Dhoni from the commentary box since the beginning of the career, to hearing him announce his decision to quit to the dressing-room, Shastri said the lack of results may have played a role in taking the call. “It has been a hard job for him. Recently they have been coming close but were unable to win…” he was quoted as saying.
“Knowing Dhoni, he would have loved to win those matches but unfortunately at this juncture he felt his time in Test cricket had come to an end. He felt he wouldn’t be doing justice to the team if he kept playing. He saw that the team had Virat Kohli fit and ready to lead and he saw there was Wriddhiman Saha to take over from him behind the stumps. He saw the future was in safe hands.”
Shastri added that despite India’s latest overseas Test series loss, the team was shaping up well for the future. “People back home do not realise how well this young side has played in Australia… The score-line is against us but they have played good aggressive cricket. This is what I like about this team,” he said. “They have a mindset to not just turn up overseas and mark attendance in Test cricket but they want to compete and win Test matches.”
“The biggest point for me is that this is a very young team, still learning, and they all have at least 5-6 years of cricket left in them together as a group. They will develop into one of the most dangerous team in world cricket if they carry on playing with this attitude.”
The fourth and final Test will see Kohli leading the Indian team out on the field as full-time captain for the first time, and Shastri said “he will mature into an even better cricketer” as a captain.
“What is wrong with that aggressive attitude? If he was only talking on the field and had scored only five runs in three Tests, I would have had a word with him,” he said. “But he is one run short of 500 runs in this series. So obviously he is doing something right and it is working wonders for him and the team of course. He is an aggressive cricketer and he loves this attitude on the field and it brings out the best in him.” (afp)