Chennai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to step down as India's ODI and T20 captain came in the same dramatic fashion associated with the dashing skipper. Dhoni set Indian cricket alight with the T20 win in 2007 in South Africa which led to the revolutionising of the game with the birth of the cash-rich IPL. He inspired India to the 2011 World Cup win, which the nation dedicated to the old battler of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.
He seemed to lose the sting after that as continuous losses in T20 worlds and in the World Cup of 2015 saw his captaincy stock plummet to its lowest level. Dhoni's decision to carry on as a limited-overs player is logical and quite welcome too from the perspective of his willingness to play under Virat Kohli, who is the universal choice to take over in all formats now. There is no saying how long the 35-year-old will continue in the game but it appears certain he will play in the Champions Trophy in England this summer, a competition he won even at a time when team India was going through a lean patch.
Shocking as some of the defeats under him may have been in dashing the huge expectations of Indian fans, the victories under him were dramatic and stunning, the 2007 T20 triumph being a leading example of a dynamic skipper who was willing to trust his instincts and do the unpredictable in complex game situations. Dhoni leaves the remnants of captaincy he had clung on to after retiring from Test cricket at a good time when everyone is convinced Kohli is the one destined to take Team India forward. And yet there is no denying his accomplishments as India's most successful skipper ever, including in Test cricket, which may not always have been his favourite format.
