AGENCIES
NEW DELHI
Sandeep Patil, India's former chairman of selectors, has said "there were lots of discussions" around the future of MS Dhoni's limited-overs captaincy around the time he retired from Test cricket in December 2014. Dhoni's unexpected exit from the longest format mid-way through India's Test series in Australia came as a "shock", Patil said, but he was happy that Dhoni decided to move on when he realised his mental and physical fitness were not up to scratch.
Patil, whose four-year term as chief selector ended today, said his panel deliberated making a leadership change in ODIs then, but eventually decided not to, keeping in mind the 2015 World Cup was only a couple of months away at the time. "Absolutely (Dhoni's captaincy was under threat). There were lots of discussions that happened regarding that, [and] it's not like they happened once, they happened a lot," Patil told ABP News. "There was discussion about his one-day captaincy, there were discussions on his finishing…
"But we selected him because… a time had come, the World Cup had come - (if) you try, before the World Cup, giving a new player the captaincy seat, (you should) give him a good run. But that opportunity didn't come to the selectors. We didn't have enough time to experiment."
Dhoni, who still captains India in ODIs and T20s, had announced his retirement shortly after the Boxing Day Test ended in Melbourne, with the team trailing 2-0 after three matches with one to play. Patil said that Australian tour was a tough one for the team and Dhoni's decision was "sudden", but he was best placed to decide on his future. "I wouldn't want to say… that it was a sinking ship, but it was a tough series. Our players had to face quite a few difficulties there, the performance wasn't quite right, save for Virat Kohli.
"In such a situation, for a senior player to take this decision - to suddenly take this decision - was shocking. There was a lot of discussion even among us (selectors), 'How did this happen?'
"But it was his decision. What the player is thinking and understands… his body, his thinking, his fitness, only he can decide on all those things. Selectors can't decide that. I feel that Dhoni understood this and took the right decision at the right time."
Patil said the selectors did ask Dhoni about the timing of his retirement when the panel next met to select an ODI squad. But, in the end, the decision was a selfless one, he said. "(Since it was mid-way through a series), we questioned him and his response was that 'this is the level of contribution that should be coming from me to the team, when that wasn't happening, then I myself felt that I should be out'. Very few players can take a decision like that. Very few players can think like that. Everyone generally thinks I should play more, let me play one more series, let me play for another year."
