RP Singh reveals the reason behind MS Dhoni retiring from international cricket

On August 15, 2020, the former Indian captain MS Dhoni broke the hearts of millions of cricket fans as he bid adieu to international cricket. Days after the news that shocked the fraternity, former Indian fast bowler and Dhoni’s one of the closest friends in the cricketing circuit, RP Singh has revealed the reason for the former’s decision of hanging his boots.

The pacer believes that the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 has contributed to the veteran cricketer’s sudden retirement. He added that Dhoni could no longer finish matches for India which he used to at one point in his career. He had last played in the semi final of the World Cup 2019 where he couldn’t take India to victory despite smashing a half-century.

“Of course, it has. He has been a massive player in T20s so he wanted to wait until the big event. Besides that, age and fitness also contributed to his decision. If you leave aside IPL, he hardly got any opportunity to display his batting for India in ODIs for the last 12-15 months,” Singh told Cricket.com.

“In the 2019 World Cup, he may have wanted to bat at number 4 but that was not done because of team management and in the lower order, he barely got a chance until the semi-final game. Oddly, he also was not able to finish off games the way he used to earlier. Maybe that also gave him the signal that he was reaching his end and he needed to take a call on his future.” he added.

MS Dhoni knew how to control the game, says RP Singh

Throughout his tenure as team India skipper, MS Dhoni was hailed as one of the smartest cricketing brains and strategy thinkers. Recalling an incident from the 2007 World Cup, RP narrated an anecdote where the former Indian captain’s ability of arranging the field taking into consideration the stance of the batsman shocked him.

“This incident was during the T20 World Cup final in 2007, regarding Mohammed Hafeez’s dismissal. That was the moment when I thought his knowledge was incredible. He knew how to control the game. He never led Bihar or Jharkhand or India A but that hardly mattered.

If you talk about the last over of Joginder Sharma, people say it was a fluke but it was in fact a strategic decision. He knew that he would require Sharma in the last five overs. He had that foresight to see what was going to happen.” Singh further said.