We should have seen it coming. The man had spelled it out clearly at a press conference at Perth in January 2012: “If I want to see the 2015 World Cup, I’ll have to retire from one of the formats,” MS Dhoni had said on the eve of a game India went on to lose by an innings, one of the infamous 0-8 overseas losses.
But we didn't. When he picked up a stump after the Boxing Day test, we assumed it would be an unusual addition to his collection of stumps that have seen better results, wider smiles. This stump would mark the end of his fairly average test career, despite what the emotional op-eds are saying in today’s papers.
Read it as you may, or wait for his autobiography, but knowing of Dhoni’s ways, his retirement ‘with immediate effect’ is largely his acceptance of failure. By leaving no time for ceremonial farewells or elaborate goodbye tours by teams of friendly cricket boards, all MS seems to be saying is, ‘I screwed up, but the team must move on.’ And hasn't Dhoni’s ‘it may not be correct, but it just feels right at this time’ way of doing things, defined his captaincy?
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