Ravi Shastri clarifies the reason for MS Dhoni taking the ball from the umpires

MS Dhoni taking the match ball from the umpires at Headingley led to his retirement speculations among the fans. Moreover, the video of the same also went viral as many felt that the veteran has played his last match for India. They thought he took the ball as a memory of his last international series. However, the head coach Ravi Shastri has now opened up on the matter and has clarified the reason for Dhoni taking the ball after the end of the match.

Dhoni batted without any confidence in the three-match ODI series. His scores of 37 and 42 came at a strike-rate of around 60 which is not acceptable in modern cricket at all. He was also booed at the Lord’s for not showing any intent to win the game when the required run-rate was creeping up with every dot delivery. In the decider as well, he took the game deep but couldn’t finish the innings with a bang as India posted an under-par total.

Why did he take the ball?

“Is MS Dhoni retiring,” is the question going on in the mind of the media and the fans since the ODI series has concluded. However, while speaking to the Times of India, Ravi Shastri has dismissed all the speculations of him hanging his boots. “That’s rubbish. MS is not going anywhere,” he said.

He also revealed that the 37-year-old took the ball from the match officials to show it to the bowling coach Bharat Arun. “MS wanted to show the ball to Bharat Arun. He wanted to show him the wear and tear the ball had endured, to get a general idea of what the conditions were like,” Shastri added.

When asked about his slow knocks in the ODI series, the Indian head coach went on to say that Dhoni still remains an important member of the team. As far as the criticism is concerned, he felt that Dhoni will surely endure it in the near future.

“But right now, all this clamour is nonsense. He just wanted to show the ball to Arun to just have a look at it after close to 45 overs had been bowled,” he said.

[interaction id=”5b4ef90996df4285bbb00a08″]

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates