Sunil Gavaskar Feels MS Dhoni Shouldn't Have Retired from the Longest Format so Early

Former Indian opener and regarded as one of the best batsmen during his heydays, Sunil Gavaskar is of the opinion that former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni shouldn’t have hung up his boots from the longest format of the game so early. He retired from Test cricket in December 2014 after playing his final Test against Australia.

Ever since his retirement, Wriddhiman Saha has been India’s first choice wicket-keeper in the longest format but following his injury in the opening Test Parthiv Patel was included in for the 2^nd Test at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The southpaw failed to impress with the gloves and ended up dropping quite a few matches so far. He dropped Dean Elgar in the 2^nd innings while he made a meal of a couple of catches of Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla in the 1^st innings.

Gavaskar recently said that had Dhoni been in the team, India would have benefited big time. However, he respected the decision taken by Dhoni during that time.

“If MSD [Dhoni] wanted to carry on, he could have carried on. Clearly, I think he might have had too much of captaincy [burden]. I would have actually liked him to maybe give up captaincy and still stay in the team as wicketkeeper-batsman because his advice in the dressing room would have been invaluable. Maybe he thought that the best course for him was to not to be there,” Gavaskar said during an analysis show on Sony Ten 1 ahead of the 4^th day’s play between India and South Africa at the Centurion.

There is no doubt about the fact that Wriddhiman Saha is the best Indian keeper and his 10 catches in the opening test was just testimony to his efforts and his ability behind the stumps. Gavaskar said that the team would be missing Saha. When asked to compare between Parthiv and Saha, Gavaskar said that while the former is a fluent stroke maker with the bat, Saha’s wicket-keeping skills are at a different level and Parthiv is nowhere close to him in that aspect.

“Wriddhiman Saha has been missed. There is no question about it. His keeping is at an altogether different level. Parthiv Patel though is a competitive wicketkeeper. He is a little fighter as we can see when he gets the bat in his hand. However, sometimes with the gloves he can have a little bit of an issue. We saw with that missed opportunity [Elgar on Day 3]. If we had gone for it and dropped it, then there would have been no issues. But not going for a catch does make you feel a little bit disappointed,” said the Little Master.

India faces a tricky position in the 2^nd Test, and with the prospect of batting 2^nd on a wear and teary wicket, Gavaskar feels that anything above 250 would be difficult for India to chase down.

“If you look it, the odd ball was keeping low, some balls were bouncing. The pitch has started to wear around the good length area. If Ashwin can use that spot to good effect, he can create a lot of problems. But that also means India will find batting in the last innings difficult. So they must make sure they are not chasing more than 250-260. Anything more than that is not going to be easy,” Gavaskar signed off.

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