Dhoni retires from Test Cricket

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni retired in December 2014 from Tests citing the strain of playing all three formats of cricket after India drew the third Test against Australia in Melbourne. Virat Kohli will captain the side in the fourth and final Test in Sydney.

Dhoni’s announcement in Melbourne came following the third Test, which ended in a draw that gave Australia a 2-0 series win with the final match to be played in Sydney Jan 6.

‘M.S. Dhoni has chosen to retire from Test Cricket with immediate effect in order to concentrate on ODI and T20 formats,’ according to BCCI statement.

‘BCCI, while respecting the decision of M.S. Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test Cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India.’

‘Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian Team for the Fourth and Final Test against Australia to be played in Sydney from the Jan 6 2015.’

Dhoni has played 90 Tests for India, scoring 4,876 runs and was instrumental in taking the Indian team to the top of Test rankings.

India became the No.1 team in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings under Dhoni’s leadership.

Of the 90 Tests he played, Dhoni led India in 60 matches.

Dhoni (eight catches, one stumping) became the first Indian wicketkeeper to effect nine dismissals in a Test match in Melbourne.

Dhoni became the third wicketkeeper to achieve the feat against Australia – the first two being David Murray (West Indies) at Melbourne in December 1981 and Ridley Jacobs (also of the West Indies) at Melbourne in December 2000.

Dhoni also became the first Indian batsman to complete 10,000 runs or more as captain in international cricket, joining Ricky Ponting (15,440), Graeme Smith (14,878), Stephen Fleming (11,561) and Allan Border (11,062).

India have already lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, having lost the first two Tests to Australia in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Kohli led in the first Test when Dhoni was rested due to his injured right hand.

Dhoni’s career highlights:

Test debut: India vs Sri Lanka at Chennai, Dec 2-6, 2005.
Matches: 90
Innings: 144
Not outs: 16
Highest Score: 224 (the highest by an Indian captain in Tests)
Average: 38.09
Balls Faced: 8,249
Strike Rate: 59.11
100s: 6
50s: 33
4s: 544
6s: 78 (Highest by a captain in the world cricket)
Catches: 256
Stumpings: 38

Captaincy:
2008-2014 – 60 matches, 27 wins, 18 losses, 0 tied and 15 drawn

Overseas:
30 matches, 6 wins, 15 losses, 9 drawn

Specific highlights:
60: Led India in most number of matches
27: Most number of matches won by an Indian captain. His winning percentage of 45.00 is the best.
18: Most number of matches lost by an Indian skipper.

Dhoni also is the first Indian batsman to complete 10,000 runs or more as captain in international cricket, joining Ricky Ponting (15,440), Graeme Smith (14,878), Stephen Fleming (11,561) and Allan Border (11,062).

Dhoni (eight catches, one stumping) became the first Indian wicketkeeper to effect nine dismissals in a Test match in Melbourne, in the third Test, Dec 26-30, 2014.

His aggregate of 3,454 (ave.40.63), including five hundreds and 24 fifty-plus, in 60 Tests is an Indian record by a captain, bettering the 3,449 (ave.50.72) in 47 Tests by Mohd. Azharuddin.

His best series in terms of run-aggregate is 349 (ave.34.90), including four 50s in five Tests vs England in England in 2014.

His career-best is 224 vs Australia at Chennai in 2012-13.

Dhoni is the only Indian wicketkeeper to have aggregated over 4,000 runs (4,876) and effected 250-plus dismissals (294 – 256 catches + 38 stumpings) or more. His dismissals’ tally is the highest by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests.

Dhoni is the only Indian wicketkeeper to effect eight or more dismissals in a Test match four times.

Dhoni’s six Test hundreds:

Runs Balls S.Rate Opponent Venue Series
224 265 84.52 Australia Chennai 2012-13
148 153 96.73 Pakistan Faisalabad 2005-06
144 175 82.28 West Indies Kolkata 2011-12
132* 187 70.58 South Africa Kolkata 2009-10

110 159 69.18 Sri Lanka Ahmedabad 2009-10

100* 154 64.93 Sri Lanka Mumbai (BS)2009-10