MS Dhoni To Retire At The End Of World Cup: Reports

Former India skipper MS Dhoni is set to announce his retirement from international cricket at the end of the ongoing World Cup. Media reports are suggesting that the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman will hang his boots once India’s campaign in the tournament comes to an end. India will play at least two more games in the competition after sealing their semifinal spot on Tuesday.

The Men in Blue will play against Sri Lanka in their final league game before taking on the semifinalist. A triumph in the World Cup will be a fitting end to the career of one of India’s greatest ever cricketers. Dhoni will go down in the history as the most decorated Indian skipper and one of the finest wicketkeeper-batsmen to have played the game.

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The boy wonder from Ranchi started his international career on a poor note in 2004 when he was out for a duck against Bangladesh. However, it was not the precursor of the things that were to follow. In just his 5th ODI, he scored a blistering 148 against Pakistan and did not look back since then. He established himself as one of India’s premier batsman in ODIs. The most memorable moment of Dhoni’s early part of the career arrived in 2007 when he led a bunch of youngsters to the World T20 title in South Africa.

He was soon given the captaincy in all the format, and the rest is all history. Till date, he is the only skipper to have won all the ICC events after leading India to World Cup glory in 2011 followed by the Champions Trophy title in 2013.

He also led the Indian team to the pinnacle of Test cricket in 2009 in addition to winning several historic overseas series. MS Dhoni’s record as a batsman is equally impressive. So far, he has scored 10,723 runs in ODIs. In 90 Tests, he scored 4,874 runs before retiring in 2014. In T20Is, he has amassed 1,617 runs in 98 outings.

Dhoni has been facing widespread criticism in recent times because of his struggles with the bat. While he has been among runs, he has not really managed to maintain the strike-rates that he used to.  Dhoni will be looking to bow out on a high by helping India win the World Cup.