On This Day in 2020: MS Dhoni retired from international cricket

Legendary cricketer MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international on August 15, 2020. The now 43-year-old had to grind hard in the domestic circuit for a long time before making his international debut, on December 23, 2004, against Bangladesh at Chattogram. He had a poor run of games to start with but a record-breaking century against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam in his fifth ODI changed Dhoni’s career.

The Ranchi-born cricketer secured his future with that ton. Slowly and steadily, Dhoni became one of the most consistent performers and was eventually named India’s captain for the T20 World Cup in 2007. Interestingly, all the seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly among many others were not considered for selection as Dhoni led a young bunch of players in South Africa at the inaugural T20 World Cup.

After a flop show in the ODI World Cup 2007, India were under tremendous pressure to perform at the 20-over event. They did just that, defeating Pakistan on the night of the final to be named the inaugural champions. That elevated Dhoni’s career and he was later given more freedom with selection choices, which helped India build a strong squad for the ODI World Cup 2011.

India went on to win that on their home soil, as Dhoni established himself as one of India’s greatest captains in history. Later, under his leadership, India won the Champions Trophy in 2013. He has brought all the laurels that were available, including the Test mace. 

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On an individual level, the cricketer smashed multiple records and completed over 10,000 runs in ODI cricket, and 4876 runs in red-ball cricket. Dhoni played his final international game against England in the ODI World Cup 2019 semi-finals. He was closing in on India’s chance to qualify for the finals but a run-out from Martin Guptill’s throw sent him to the pavilion in tears. After a year of waiting, he announced his retirement from international cricket even though he continued playing in the Indian Premier League for the Chennai Super KIngs.

In the IPL, Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to as many as five titles. As things stand, he hasn’t announced his retirement and may feature in the upcoming edition of the cash-rich league. However, a lot depends on BCCI’s policy regarding retention and RTM cards for the upcoming mega auction. For now, Dhoni has kept the door open and more will come to light in the near future.