What will be MS Dhoni the Test cricketer’s legacy?

MS Dhoni’s trademark jumping in the air after taking a catch will be a sight missed

Just seems like yesterday when the stylish long-haired stumper from Ranchi, MS Dhoni debuted for India in international cricket. It was at a time when India was struggling to find a wicket keeper who could bat. India in early 2000s had often relied heavily on Dravid to keep wickets. But with enough pressure already to score for India in Tests and with age catching up, it was unfair to expect Dravid to keep in the longer format of the game.

The Dinesh Karthicks, the Ajay Ratras, the Deep Dasguptas and the Parthiv Patels had shown momentary glimpses of hope, but they were just that, momentary. Dhoni was given a chance in Tests after he took the world by storm through his ODI exploits against Pakistan, and he never looked back after that.

For almost a decade, he served Indian cricket in Tests in the best possible way. He had a hugely successful run initially, winning 8 of his first 11 Tests and drawing the rest. Most of these were at home, but India won in New Zealand, West Indies and drew in South Africa. Till the 2011 World Cup, his captaincy looked largely flawless. India had done well in the opportunities it got till then under his captaincy.

Change of things

Things changed after the 2011 World Cup though. India suffered heavy defeats in England and Australia the next year. Facing severe criticism after the disastrous twin-tours of England and Australia in 2011-12, Dhoni had actually offered to step down had there been a suitable replacement. "It's not something I want to hold on to or stick on to. If there's a better replacement, it's a very open thing, he can come in.

At the end of the day, you want India to perform. If there is someone who can do a better job, then it's a place that should be given to him. It's not something you have to cling on to,” he had said.

Whether or not someone could have replaced him at that time is a matter of debate best had some other day, but remember, almost all batsmen including the then possible replacements, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had disastrous series themselves.

Playing relentless cricket for almost 10 years where he not only batted in the key lower middle order position but also kept wickets in all formats of the game and captaining whichever side he played for in a majority of those games took its toll on him.

Although, I can hardly remember him dropping any simple catches in spite of all that would probably be going through his mind, he had started to avoid going for catches at first slip especially in the last year or so. These were signs enough that his game did suffer in the later stages of his Test career. It was only fair that he called it a day in one of the formats.

In an interview with All Out Cricket a few months ago, he was asked how long he would like to continue playing cricket. He said “My job is to get the team right and then move away. I couldn’t stand down after the tour here three years ago. I don’t believe in deserting when the chips are down. And speed, I’ll know it is time to finish when I am no longer one of the fastest movers in the team. At that point I will surely know age is winning.”

Retirement

No wonder then that Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket now that India has found a possible alternative captain in Virat Kohli and the team seems to have shown signs of improvement in the current series against Australia. It is the first time India drew a Test in Australia after 6 consecutive defeats. He would have wanted to see the team through the difficult overseas tours in the last 12-14 months.

He was the most experienced of the current Indian team and the youngsters, most of who were on their first overseas tour really needed someone like him. Bowlers and batsmen alike would have gained a lot of experience from these tours and would have benefitted from his presence in the dressing room.

Captaincy of the Indian cricket team is undoubtedly the most scrutinized job in cricket, and just like most of his decisions, there were bound to be questions raised about the timing of his retirement. I feel he would have stayed on till the end of the series had India still been in with a chance after the Melbourne Test.

With series already lost and nothing to lose now, Virat Kohli can turn in as captain at SCG and try and take the Indian team forward with complete freedom. Remember, India will play Test cricket in the subcontinent itself for the next 12-15 months or so. It would be a great opportunity for Kohli to ease into Test captaincy just like it happened for Dhoni himself.

His legacy

What will be MS Dhoni, the Test cricketer’s legacy then? He took India to number one in Tests, which one could argue was at least in part a doing of his predecessors, but India stayed there for 18 months, his contribution cannot be forgotten. He averaged 38.09 in his 90 Test matches for India, scored 6 hundreds and 33 fifties.

His lightning-quick stumpings, his innovative ways of collecting throws to run batsmen out, his jumping with joy in the air when he took those catches and his witty lines on the stump microphones will all be missed. Sure there could be better wicket keeper batsmen in Tests for India in future, but for changing the game at least in Indian cricket and increasing the expectations of Indian fans from a wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni will forever be remembered.

We as Indian fans tend to have short memories but MS Dhoni will unarguably go down in history as one of India’s best captains and certainly the best wicket-keeper batsman ever.