MS Dhoni resigns as India’s limited overs captain before England series

At the IPL-launch dinner, Pawar got the same answer from Tendulkar.

1 Dhoni is the only wicketkeeper to lead a side in more than 100 matches across formats, 255 ahead of the next placed Mushfiqur Rahim (76). He has won the World T20, the 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy as captain and took India to the semi-final of last year’s World T20. This series will test the Kohli’s Captaincy as ODI team captain and will be his first series as Indian Cricket Team Captain. Dhoni’s four wins in the finals of limited-over tournaments involving five or more teams are the joint-highest for any captain.

It was around this time that Dhoni noticed the happenings and the captain gave her an autograph and sat by the disheartened Mathira and tried to cheer her up.

India’s Test captain Virat Kohli is likely to take over captaincy of the limited overs team following Dhoni’s decision.

“That’s his way of doing things”. His decision to retire from Test cricket in December 2014 was completely unexpected for people, including the selectors. To that extent, Kohli has been India’s oneday- captain-in-the-waiting for at least two years. Dhoni went past the record during his innings of 80 against New Zealand in Mohali in his last series as captain. His unswerving support to Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja in the nascent stage of their careers, despite many failures, raised many an eyebrow.

With Dhoni at the helm, the team underwent a massive transition and that was seen when most of the senior players backed out of playing the inaugural T20 World Cup. “He is an invaluable asset as a player and it was made known to him that he is still needed”, said a source close to the developments.

Dhoni relinquishes captaincy in all formats of the game. It is also believed that the team has the former captian during the initial days of the new captain. He played football, took part in the team’s exercises, conducted his own fitness runs, had a good hit at net sessions and used the VCA gymnasium for work outs. The gravity of that hint dawned on Wednesday evening with the sudden announcement.

As a captain, Dhoni was never shy of making going against the grain and making bold decisions, be it his on-field tactics or team selection. He captained India in 199 ODIs out of which under his captaincy India won 110 and lost 74.