MS Dhoni jokes about retirement with batting coach after Adelaide win

Mahendra Singh Dhoni answered his critics in style as he picked up the Man of the Tournament award during India’s historic ODI bilateral series win in Melbourne on January 18. Dhoni ended the series as the second-highest run-scorer with 193 runs including two crucial match-winning knocks.

The clamour over Dhoni’s retirement had resurfaced after the 1st ODI, where he scored a painfully slow 51 off 96 balls before getting trapped in front of the wickets. A section of Indian fans was quick to point out that despite scoring a half-century, Dhoni’s slow-scoring pace in the first ODI put too much pressure on the other batsmen.

Fans of Rishabh Pant were the most vocal, calling for the young swashbuckling wicketkeeper to replace Dhoni in the ODI squad. Pant had impressed during the Test series finishing as the second-highest run-scorer with 350 runs. He had returned home following the Test series win as Dhoni came in to keep wickets in the ODI format.

Dhoni responded to all the criticism in a trademark fashion as he carried India across the finish line in the next match with an unbeaten 55 off 54 balls. He even hit a six in the final, overtaking India to victory with four balls to spare and leveling the series 1-1.

Dhoni's experience once again came to the fore in the final ODI where he showed great nerves to push India to win with an unbeaten 87. Dhoni was ably assisted by Kedar Jadhav who scored the winning runs and finished with 61 off 57 balls.

Dhoni had earlier sparked rumours about his retirement following India’s loss to England in the third ODI in July 2018. He had walked off the field with the match ball in that game which led to speculations that he might retire. The conjectures were fuelled by the fact that Dhoni had taken the stumps with him after his final Test match despite that game ending in a draw.

This time, however, in a video which was shared by cricket.com.au, Dhoni can be seen handing over the match ball to batting coach Sanjay Bangar saying, “Ball lelo nahi to bolega retirement le rahe hain (take the ball or they will say I am retiring).”

Here’s the tweet which was shared by cricket.com.au. The incident occurs 0.36 seconds into the video when Sanjay Bangar congratulates Dhoni.

Another chance for Team India to celebrate on their Aussie tour! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/7D53QNX6hs

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— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 18, 2019