MS Dhoni isn't a person who likes milestones, farewells: Ravi Shastri on Dhoni's cold retirement call

MS Dhoni retired from Tests in 2014 and from international cricket in 2020.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri talked about MS Dhoni not being the one for milestones after the legendary keeper-batter had announced his retirement from test cricket in 2014 on the tour of Australia in the middle of the Tests series just 10 matches shy of 100 Tests for India.

MS Dhoni is considered to be one of the best keepers to play for India and he also led India to the no.1 Test rank for the first time in 2011. However, with Wriddhiman Saha knocking on the doors of the Indian team, and dealing with a back injury, MS Dhoni, who was captaining the Indian team on that Australian tour, decided to retire from the format, after India played a draw against Australia at the MCG.

Recently in an interview, Ravi Shastri was asked whether MS Dhoni would seriously consider coming out of retirement for India’s upcoming WTC 2023 final, the former head coach said that Dhoni has made up his mind to retire and nothing can change that.

"Nah. Once MS makes up his mind, he makes up his mind. To leave Test cricket, where he could have easily played for a year or year and a half, if he was statistically driven like our country is then he would have loved that 100 Test match mark, big crowd, nice ceremony, nice presentation, walk around the crowd, say good bye to everyone...he doesn't want that. He's like hands up, new man is there, let him be," said Shastri on ESPNCricinfo.

He has shown up a lot of young keepers in the country: Ravi Shastri on MS Dhoni

Meanwhile, during the same conversation, Ravi Shastri discussed the wicket-keeper issue with the Indian team with respect to the upcoming WTC 2023 final.

The BCCI had announced the Indian squad for the World Test Championship final against Australia, to be played in the second week of June in England. KS Bharat was named as the designated keeper in the squad.

There is also KL Rahul, who can be asked to keep wickets in the one-off match, helping India bolster their batting or bowling.

In the southpaw's absence during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in February-March, it was Bharat who kept wickets for India while Rahul was dropped following his poor returns in the first two Tests of the four-match series.

Shastri discussed the same issue on ESPNCricinfo and gave his opinion when the anchor asked him if the BCCI should’ve looked at MS Dhoni as well, who is currently playing in IPL 2023 for CSK and keeping well despite being 41 years of age and dealing with a knee injury.

Shastri replied: "Oh yeah. He has shown up a lot of young keepers in the country with the way he has kept behind the stumps, the way he has moved just for someone who doesn't play first-class cricket just to pitch up."

MS Dhoni hasn’t played any FC cricket since 2014 when he retired from Tests and doesn’t play regularly since retiring from international cricket in 2020.