Tendulkar described Dhoni as the best captain that he played under just after the news of Dhoni’s retirement, in an interview to a TV channel and had high praise for the wicketkeeper batsman.
M S Dhoni retired from Test cricket after the fourth Test match , which left fans and the cricketing world surprised in the middle of the India – Australia series. Virat Kohli will lead India in the last Test.
Though Dhoni’s place in India’s Test side has not been under question, his batting form took a dip in 2014 and he averaged only 33 in 17 innings this year. His wicketkeeping has also deteriorated, in particular his ability to move laterally to take testing catches. India’s overseas results have also suffered under Dhoni’s leadership in recent years. Since 2011, they have won only two out of 22 away Tests and lost 13.
Dhoni made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2005 and against Australia was his 90th Test match and the last. In 90 Test matches Dhoni scored 4876 runs at the average of 38.09, scoring 6 hundreds and 33 half centuries.
Critics have been tough on Dhoni in Tests since 2011 as India lost 4 consecutive test series away from home, but MS Dhoni also had some wonderful years when India became the number one team and stayed there for 18 months.
Greats from the past still believed that Dhoni still had three years of test cricket left in him. If we leave the critics and recent performances , Dhoni will go as one of India’s greatest captain in test historty till now.
Indian captains – Test record
Captain Mat Won Lost Draw Win %
MS Dhoni 58 27 17 14 46.55
SC Ganguly 49 21 13 15 42.86
M Azharuddin 47 14 14 19 29.79
SM Gavaskar 47 9 8 30 19.15
MK Pataudi 40 9 19 12 25.50
N Kapil Dev 34 4 7 22 11.76
R dravid 25 8 6 11 32.00
SR Tendulkar 25 4 9 12 16.00