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Mahi quitsamid deafening silence

, BY AJAYNAIDU

No seaof emotions amongdevoted fans in the stands. o guardof honour from his grateful colleagues.No lap of honour from rhe man himself!

Inastyleso typicalof theman, MahendraSinghDhoniwalked into the sunset, quirtingTest cricket and1eavingthe cricketing world stunned and she!Jshocked. For someonewhofollows his own wisdom, and wears his humility on his sleeves, Dhoui hasbeen a manwho isn'tgiven to displayhisemotionsopenly.

Perhaps the only hint hegave duringthedaywasat the end of theTestwhenDhoni plucked a stump and put itunder his armon hiswayback.

"\Vhywouldhecollecta stump inadrawngame?"askedIan Chappe!JonChannel ine.''\Vhy nor, repliedDeanJones.He has nine victims from theTest. some sort of a record."

WeU,nowweknowwhyDhoni tookthestumpasasouvenir!

Andwho knows? Perhaps, Dbonimightstill come backfor a galafarewellat thesameMCGon 29March,2015- theday of the World Cup final!

Soon afterthe post-match ptesent'ltion,Dhonicame upfor thecustomary pressconference smiling.Someof hisanswers hadhis usualwit.Once hewas through,vithic,he jokedwithrhis writerandsome other journalist friends.

However, till then,noone had imagined that soon theywould be hearingbreakingnews fromIndia aboutbis retirement.

Thenewsspreadlikewild fire and, havingspoken to a chosenfew, icbecameapparent that Dhoni'sdecision bad taken everyoneby surprise.

"Hadweknownthathe was retiring,wewouldhavegiven him a guard of honour or afareweU befittinga player of his stamre," saidasenior co!Jeague.

lshant Sharma,whowould havebeen history long back but for Dhoni'srelentless backing, tweeted:

''A hie shocked atDhoni's test retirement,Wassurehe would leave it until the toss in Sydney to announcehewouldn't be playing."

One of Dhoni's closestfriends, SnreshRaina, tweeted: "Valiant whileyouled.Valiant in your departure."

It is understoodthatDhonibad madeuphismind to retirefrom Testson this tour.Bmalmost everyone tlJougbtitwouldbeafter theSydneyTest.

It has beenlearned fromreliable sources that Dhoni spoke to the BCCISecretary,SanjayPatel, informing himof his decision to quitwithinunecliateeffect. Again itwasDboni's wishthat thedecision bemade publicfrom India at tl1e end of the thirdTest.

TheBCCl pressreleasegives thereason of Dhoni's retirement as "scrains of playing a!J forms of cricket".

Thosewho havebeen privileged to know Dhon.i closely knew that hiscurrent pacein cricketwas taking a heavy toll on his body.In fact, soon after the2011World Cupwin,Dhonicold a television channel that hewould giveupone form of cricketin ayear's time.

A couple of years back, during the 2012Incl.ia-WestIndies series, theIndianteamhad justreached Mumbaifrom Kolkara for the final Test.Ac the team hotel Taj, Dhoniwasrestinghis tired knees. "Itis verytaxingfor a wicketkeeper,"he toldthiswriter.

In anotherconversation during thesameTest,hiswifeSakshi cold me,"Idon'twant my husband to collapseon acricket field." Indeed on that clay,l had first-hand knowledgeof howta..xingDhoni's workloadwas.

Then again, onethingthat Dhoniwouldneverforgetco tell meduringourdiscussionswas that hewon'thangaroundfor long.''ThedayI decidetoretire,I will still beoneof theEttestguys in the team," said Dhoni. And he has kept his word.

Tobe sure,Dhon.i'sbody bas been complainingfor a couple of years now.A lesser mortal would havegiven uplongago.

There's anod1ertheorywhich says chat,wich the teamconcinuing to perform badly overseas, pressurewasmountingon Dhoni toquit the job,withformer playersandcriticsquestioning his defensiveleadership in tl1e longer format.

Theonly answer tothatis that Dhoni is hisownman. Hewas seldombotl1erecl abouc tl1emedia or biscritics. Had he wanted, he could have given up the captaincy and stayed on to playanother10 Teststo complete aca!Jy of 100 Tests.Butheis not one tobe seduced by thelureof statisticsor landmarks. lemustbemade clear chat apart from Suresb Raina, Virat Kohli is also Dhoni's closesLbuddy in the team. 1n fact,Dhonichose to ignore Moh.inder Amarnad1's dictateto dropKohliand play Roh.iLSharma in the2012 AdelaideTest.As itwere,Kohli wenc onto notchup hisfirstTest hundred inthatgame.So,aU talks of friction among dietop players issheernonsense.

'rhecriticism notwitl1stancling, Dhoni is nowd1e leadingn111scorer as captainwith a tally of 3454runs, goingpastSunil Gavaskar (3449),Mohammad Azbaruddin (2856) and Sourav Ganguly (2561).

Infact,oneof Dhoni's major contributions to thelnclianream is tl1ar,as captain,he ensured therewas no'groupism' in his team.Therewas no senior-junior business either. His relationship withhis teamwasbased on crust andmutual respect.

AsSunilGavaskar rigbcy pointed our, "Dhoni sti!J had three years of cricketleft in him."Bur theonedunghe alwaysbad in bismindwas hewouldquit long beforepeople asked 'why' rather

than'whynot'.

Forthesimplereasonthat Dbonigaveahundred percent, played hiscricketwithgrace and humility,we shouldrakehis sudden decision to retire atface value.

Welldonel'vfahi! Ichas indeed been a privilegeknowingyou; asa good cricketer,as a goodfriend andmost of allas agreat hunian being!