MS Dhoni shouldn’t have taken retirement while sitting at home: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan cricketer, reckons that MS Dhoni shouldn’t have announced his international retirement, “sitting at home”. On the occasion of India’s 74th Independence Day, the 39-year-old Dhoni called it a day after serving his nation for the last 16 years since 2004. He made his debut against Bangladesh and played his last game against New Zealand.

On August 15, Dhoni, through his Instagram handle, announced his decision to retire. In a video clip, Dhoni showed the ups and downs of his career, with a popular song in the background. However, Inzamam feels that a player of Dhoni’s stature should have bid goodbye from the ground.

The 50-year-old Inzamam, who’s also a legendary Pakistan captain, put forth his opinions on his YouTube channel through a video. He also said to have advised the same to Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who bowed out after playing in front of his home crowd at the Wankhede Stadium.

MS Dhoni is such a clever cricketer, says Inzamam

“Dhoni has millions of fans across the globe who want to see him play on the ground. In my opinion a player of such stature, shouldn’t have taken retirement while sitting at home. He should have announced retirement from the ground,” Inzamam said.

“This is the same thing, I once told Sachin Tendulkar. When you have such a big fanfare, you should ideally end your journey from the ground, after all it is this ground where you earned such respect and stardom.

“In my opinion, even Dhoni should have done the same then his fans would have been happier, including me since I rate him as the best Indian skipper,” Inzamam said.

Inzamam also stated that under Dhoni, Ravi Ashwin and Suresh Raina have flourished the most at the highest level. “MS Dhoni is such a clever cricketer that he knew how to build players. Suresh Raina and R Ashwin are two best players, MS Dhoni produced,” he added.

Interestingly, even Raina announced his retirement on Saturday along with Dhoni. Both of them will now be seen in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to get underway on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).