“Dhoni didn’t wait” - Ravi Shastri recalls former captain’s farewell as R Ashwin retires after BGT 2024-25 3rd Test

Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's sudden retirement from international cricket has shocked the entire cricketing fraternity. Shortly after Ashwin's retirement, former India head coach Ravi Shastri recalled how MS Dhoni walked away from Test cricket in 2014, leaving everyone stunned.

The former India skipper announced his retirement from red-ball cricket midway through the 2014 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. After the drawn Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Dhoni gave a five-minute speech in the dressing room to announce his retirement.

Shastri recalled how Dhoni announced his retirement with a short and crisp message and without any tantrums.

“Dhoni didn’t wait. I was the coach. He said, Ravi, I need to have a chat with the boys for five minutes. Since we drew the game at the MCG, I said, sure. I thought he would say, ‘Boys, well done’. Instead, he just said, ‘Thank you. I’m done with this,'" Shastri told SEN Radio via Hindustan Times.

“There’s one Test match to go back. He just, you know, just walked up there. Five-minute speech. No tantrums, no shenanigans. ‘I’m done. Thank you very much for your support. You know, I won’t be there in Sydney, but my total support for you guys.’ Because after that was the World Cup. And he was the captain of the World Cup side," he added.

Shastri revealed that Dhoni's announcement left everyone clueless, even players close to him.

"I looked around the dressing room. I asked players if he had had a chat with them. No one had a clue. Even the guys who went out or spent time with him three days before that. No one had a clue he’s going to come and say what he did," he said.

MS Dhoni walked away as one of India's most successful skippers in red-ball cricket. He led the country in 60 Tests across 21 series, winning 27 and losing 18. He enjoyed a winning percentage of 45.

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Ravi Shastri expected MS Dhoni to play 100 Tests

In the same discussion, the former India all-rounder turned commentator revealed that he expected MS Dhoni to play 100 Test matches given that he was only a few games away. However, he recalled that the Ranchi-born cricketer didn't care about milestones and called time on his career out of the blue.

"He had played 94 or 95 Test matches. Normally, you know, in India, a player of his stature, if he plays his 100th Test match and they had given that Test match to say Ranchi, the whole town would have been there at the ground to celebrate that 100th Test… But none of that stuff for him. He just said, ‘I want to pack my bags. I’m done with whites,'” Shastri concluded.

MS Dhoni played 90 Tests for India, scoring 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09, including six hundreds and 33 fifties. He also has 256 catches and 38 stumpings to his name.