“Dhoni has made that change possible by stepping aside. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, it is impossible to not understand that change is needed. It needs a No.6 with the tactical nous for Test cricket. It needs two reliable openers to assist Murali Vijay. The team is still crocked it will lose a lot of Test matches overseas in the future until it finds five bowlers worth their salt. Will he make a difference? Maybe, maybe not. “Kohli is indisputably a star of the present, and even more so, of the future. India need a change at the top, they need inspirational performances, they need reason to believe. “Maybe he came to Australia with his mind made up. “Maybe Dhoni saw it, felt it,” Alter wrote. Jamie Alter, writing in the Times of India, held a similar view. Virat Kohli has assumed the Test captaincy from MS Dhoni. Dhoni quietly decided to slip under the radar.”
Today in Melbourne, India lost their sixth overseas Test series on the bounce.
“Also, India under MS Dhoni have had become serial losers in away Test matches. “A young team is trying to find its footing in the longer format and a young man, answering to the name of Virat Kohli is ready to lead them to the future. “Perhaps this was a little overdue,” Chakrabarty write. Shamik Chakrabarty, writing in the Indian Express, suggested Dhoni’s inability to coax more out of his touring squads in recent campaigns indicated he may have retired too late. MS Dhoni appeals for the wicket of Dave Warner during his final Test for India. That is why, Dhoni’s decision to quit Test cricket altogether may not be good news for the Indian team.”
Magazine concluded: “India may not miss Dhoni the Test captain, but Kohli, who has yet to recognise that the line separating brash arrogance and confidence is a thin one, will certainly miss Dhoni the player. Is this his own decision, an emotional reaction to goings on in Australia, or was the pressure put on him by the selectors too much for him to take?” For the past couple of years, Dhoni has not been the best man to have led India in Tests, but somehow the manner in which it has happened does not seem right. “It is not my argument that Dhoni should not have been removed, or not have quit as captain. “It is not that Dhoni was a great Test captain and Virat Kholi is not ready to step in, just that the timing of the whole thing suggests that something may have snapped somewhere forcing Dhoni to take this decision so abruptly,” Magazine wrote. Pradeep Magazine, writing for the Hindustan Times, is among them. Whatever the reason, a good portion of India’s cricket scribes feel Dhoni was right to walk away from the Test arena and pass the torch to the young, excitable Virat Kohli. The strain of an IPL corruption investigation may have contributed to MS Dhoni’s Test cricket retirement, according to Indian media. “That was a dismal slump from the number one position attained by the team – ironically under Dhoni himself – and nothing seemed to stem the fall.” In two series, England 2011 and Australia 2011-12, the team suffered whitewashes. In the past four years, since the 2011 World Cup win, India have played 16 Tests overseas, lost nine and won only two. “Coming back to the cricket, pressure had been building up on Dhoni as Test captain, and particularly overseas, for a while now. He wouldn’t be human if he was unaffected by the raging controversy,” Memon wrote. “He must surely have also been under duress because of the protracted Indian Premier League case in the Supreme Court, which he has been dragged into by insinuation and allusion, if not directly. Source: Getty ImagesĪyaz Memon, writing for Star Sports, raised the spectre of the Indian Premier League corruption investigation as a potential contributor to Dhoni’s exit, with the superstar having been named as part of the Supreme Court probe into alleged spot fixing and illegal betting. The end: MS Dhoni removes his helmet after his final Test innings. He came to cricket like a tiger and left like a lion.” “Someone once called me the champion of champions but to me, Dhoni is the real champion of champions. He knew the time was right and the respect for him has just gone to another level within the team. Another Herald report added from Shastri: “He did not think about playing 100 Tests and celebrating that, he did not worry about what people might say.