‘MS Dhoni caught all of us off guard’, says Team Director Ravi Shastri

Shastri hails Dhoni's courage to his team that he could not go on playing all formats.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s decision to retire from Tests has surprised the cricket world and even the team management was caught off-guard. Team director Ravi Shastri, too expressed his surprise at Dhoni’s decision.

As reported by Deccan Herald, Shastri said, “When he walked into the dressing-room, got the team together and said what he had to, he caught all of us off guard. There were no dramas, he just said, very openly, ‘I can’t play all formats any more so I’m announcing my retirement from Tests’. He has always been someone who will do what he wants to, and he stayed true to that till the last moment. To have the guts to say to his team that he could not go on playing all formats, it tells you how honest he is with himself and his mates.”

India have lost the first two Tests and managed a draw in the third one in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy. In doing so, they have conceded the trophy to Australia. But after the conclusion of the Boxing Day Test, Shastri said that he wasn’t too bothered about the score line.

“I am not bothered about the score line because of the way they have played. I have seen teams in the past, where we have gone down, buckled under pressure and there has been no competition whatsoever. Here they have taken the attack to the opposition,” Shastri told Star Sports.

“The average age of this side is 26. Again, no excuse. But give this side, like I said, 12 months and you watch, they will be a bullet side. They will be ready to play anywhere,” he added.

Shastri hailed the partnership between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane on the third day of the Boxing Day Test.

“But this is the first draw at MCG in the last 10 years. And when you have a scoreboard total of 530 and the batting that I saw on Day 3, I think I have not seen for a long long time. I think whole of Australia stood up and acknowledged the fact that two young turks took the attack to the opposition. Everyone in Australia came to know that this Indian team has not just come out here to play cricket. They have come out here to compete and look to try and win. And that is the most important thing for me. The scoreline doesn’t matter,” said the 52-year-old, who has played 80 Tests and 150 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for India.

Shastri, who was appointed the team director earlier this year, after India’s disastrous Test series in England, also addressed the weakness, saying that the team missed an all-rounder like Sourav Ganguly.

“What we miss overseas is a batsman in the top six who can bowl. Someone like Sourav. When Sourav played he could bowl 10 or 15 overs. A medium-pace bowling all-rounder overseas. If you have that, it will be a big help. And that will be the endeavour.”