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ICC World Cup 2019: MS Dhoni breaks silence on retirement, says ‘People wanted him to quit before Sri Lanka game’ - Reports
MS Dhoni took a jibe at his critics by saying that a lot of people wanted him to retire before India’s next World Cup game against Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday.
Breaking his silence for the first time on retirement talks, MS Dhoni dismissed the reports as rumours and also took a jibe at his critics by saying that a lot of people wanted him to retire before India’s next World Cup game against Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds on Saturday. Dhoni came under severe criticism for his approach in India’s last few World Cup games. Former India cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly pointed fingers at Dhoni’s ‘lack of intent’ in the match against England, which India lost by 31 runs. Dhoni and Jadhav had scored only at a run-a-ball when the required rate was touching 13 runs per over in the last 5 overs.
Despite a lot of criticism from various quarters, Dhoni has received the backing from India’s team management including captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohti Sharma.
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On Friday, ahead of India’s final group stage match against Sri Lanka, Dhoni, as per an ABP News report, said he has no plans of retiring anytime soon however he was certain that some people wanted him to leave before the Sri Lanka match.
“I don’t know when I will retire. But a lot of people want me to retire before tomorrow’s game (against Sri Lanka),” Dhoni told ABP News.
Dhoni, however, reportedly confirmed that his indication was not towards any member of the Indian cricket team nor the coaching staff.
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The speculations about Dhoni’s retirement were fuelled after a PTI report had said that India’s last match at the World Cup could well turn out to be MS Dhoni’s swan song in India colours.
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“You never know with MS Dhoni. But it is unlikely that he will continue to play for India after this World Cup. But since his decisions to quit captaincy from the three formats have been taken so suddenly, it is very difficult to predict at the moment,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.
Interestingly, Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga had come to Dhoni’s defence ahead of the India vs Sri Lanka World Cup match saying that the former India captain should play for another two-three years more.
Dhoni has scored 223 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 93 in World Cup 2019 so far but the problem has been his inability to rotate strike in the middle-overs against the spinners. Dhoni has the worst strike rate against spin in this World Cup.
