Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Ian Smith misses the former Indian captain MS Dhoni, who hasn’t played a cricket match since the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Since his international debut in December 2004, MS Dhoni has served the national team for a long time. He has played 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20Is in the international career. In his cricket career, he became a master in various roles, such as a wicketkeeper, batsman, finisher etc.
MS Dhoni also achieved high success as a captain. Under his captaincy, India won the ICC World T20 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy 2013 etc. He is the only captain to win three different ICC tournaments. Also, during his captaincy, India reached on top of the Test team rankings for the first time since the ICC officially began ranking teams in 2003.
While MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket at the end of 2014, he stepped down from the limited-overs captaincy roles in early 2017, but he was still guiding the team in the limited-overs cricket till the end of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
In the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 against New Zealand, when the Indian team was in deep trouble during the chase of 240 runs, MS Dhoni almost guided the team to the miracle victory along with Ravindra Jadeja. While Jadeja scored 77 runs, Dhoni played the knock of 50 runs before losing his wicket through a freak run-out. It was the last time when he featured in a professional cricket match.
MS Dhoni almost won you the 2019 World Cup semi-final: Ian Smith
At present, there is no confirmation of whether MS Dhoni will return to the national team or not. Ahead of the Christchurch Test between New Zealand and India, Ian Smith asked how anyone can not miss Dhoni on a cricket field. The former Kiwi cricketer and present commentator called Dhoni as a great leader and great finisher. Smith also praised Dhoni’s batting during the semi-final of ICC CWC 2019.
Ian Smith said, “How can you not miss MS Dhoni on a cricket field? He has been a great leader and a great finisher. He almost won you the World Cup [2019] semi-final. I admire him and love talking about him, but time moves on and at some stage you have to accept that new generation will get a chance.”
MS Dhoni will return on the cricket field during the upcoming IPL season (IPL 2020). His performances in this tournament can bring the light on the future of his cricket career.