Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s silent exit after the third Test in Melbourne has left former players in shock. Like Sunil Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly too feels Dhoni should not have retired and must have had continued playing the longer format of the game even if he wasn’t the captain.
With the series lost and the fourth Test (inconsequential) in Sydney from January 6, a lot of questions have raised over the timing of retirement. Ganguly revealed that he too has been stumped by the decision.
Ganguly said had Dhoni resigned from captaincy and continued playing for a few more years, Indian cricket would have benefitted largely. “I feel the decision to give up the captaincy was right, though I think the decision not to play Test cricket is not a right one,” Ganguly wrote in the Hindustan Times.
“I have been in this situation before and I can bet it would have allowed Dhoni to play freely and do justice to his talent. We would have seen a rejuvenated Dhoni for the remaining part of his Test career as he still had cricket left in him,” Ganguly said.
Ganguly had earlier said it was time for Dhoni to pass on the baton of Test captaincy to Virat Kohli, whose aggressive cricket and leadership is winning him fans at home and abroad.