Former Team India fielding coach R Sridhar recently recalled the emotional moments in the dressing room after their shocking 2019 ODI World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand. Sridhar said that everyone in the dressing room knew that legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni had played his last match for India as well. However, a year later, Dhoni announced his international retirement as well.
Sridhar, who was India’s fielding coach at the time, said (via Subramaniam Badrinath’s YouTube channel): “Though Dhoni didn’t announce his retirement then, everyone more or less knew that he had played his final match for India. He also cried, and tears were rolling from his eyes. It was such a rare moment. We all knew the vacuum it would create in the dressing room when a stellar role model like him left. Composure like his can’t be bought.”
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“It was very emotional in the dressing room. If Dhoni hadn’t got run out, India had a great chance of winning that World Cup as we were the team to beat. But, as we all know, he makes no fanfare about these things. For 30 to 35 minutes, no one spoke in the dressing room, and it was complete silence. A few of them were also crying,” he further added.
R Sridhar also shared that then-head coach Ravi Shastri was certain that Virat Kohli would take over as captain once MS Dhoni decided to step down from the captaincy. However, Kohli became India’s permanent Test captain in 2015 but he had to wait until 2017 to become their full-time white-ball captain as well.
“Ravi Shastri told me instantly that if Virat leads the Indian red-ball team, it’ll go places. He was clear in 2014 itself that once Dhoni finishes, the Test would go to Kohli. Shastri told me that under Kohli, the way India plays in Tests would change. But he clearly told Virat that he will be the next Indian captain but asked him to wait because Dhoni was such a mighty figure. Shastri told Kohli that Dhoni himself would pass the baton to him at the perfect time,” R Sridhar concluded.
