‘THANKS. I’m done…’: After R Ashwin Shocker, Ravi Shastri recalls MS Dhoni’s Test retirement

Last update:December 19, 2024, 3:39 p.m. IST

Like Ravichandran Ashwin, legendary Indian captain MS Dhoni also retired in the middle of a tour of Australia.

Ravichandran Ashwin, one of India’s greatest Test cricket winners, has quietly left the international scene. During a media interaction on Wednesday in Brisbane, Ashwin, during his brief presence, casually announced that he had played the last match of his career in India and thus abruptly drew the curtains on a stellar career that saw him become his country’s second most successful Test bowler.

The sudden exit evoked memories of how the legendary MS Dhoni walked away from Test cricket a decade ago, which incidentally also happened during an Australian tour and after the third Test in the series.

Ravi Shastri, who was the director of cricket at the time, recalled how Dhoni, who was also captain, revealed his intention to his teammates in the dressing room during a conversation that lasted five minutes.

“Dhoni didn’t wait. I was the coach. He said: Ravi, I have to chat with the boys for five minutes. Since we drew at the MCG, I said, sure. I thought he would say, “Boys, well done.” Instead, he simply said, “Thank you.” I’m done with it,” Shastri said on Radio SEN.

“There’s a test match to come back to. He, you know, he just got there. Five minute speech. No tantrums, no shenanigans. ‘I finished. Thank you very much for your support. You know, I won’t be there in Sydney, but I totally support you. Because then it was the World Cup. And he was the captain of the World Cup team.”

Shastri further revealed that Dhoni kept the decision to retire to himself and no one in the team had a clue about it.

“I looked around the locker room. I asked the players if he had spoken with them. Nobody had any idea,” Shastri recalls. “Even the guys who were going out or hanging out with him three days before.”

“No one knew he was going to come and say what he had done. And he had played 94 or 95 test matches. Normally, you know, in India, a player of his stature, if he was playing his 100th Test Match and they had given this Test Match to say Ranchi, the whole city would have been there on the field to celebrate this 100th Test… But none of that stuff for him. He just said, “I want to pack my bags.” I’m done with white people,” he added.