Logging out of MS office

CHENNAI: Sport has seen stories seemingly never ending. They come, they see and they keep conquering. Age can’t stop them, nor can external entities. Roger Federer is a ready example. Tiger Woods, Sachin Tendulkar, Gianluigi Buffon, athlete Merlene Ottey are some of the other names from recent years who carried on successfully when many expected them not to.

In that stage of his career when retirement becomes a question of when rather than if, MS Dhoni is close to joining this league of elites, who chart their own course. Should he retire? Opinion is divided. Will he? Nobody knows. Dhoni decides what happens to him.

Didn’t he quit Test cricket and limited-over captaincy when he chose to! However, as his illustrious journey approaches the end, it’s not clear whether Dhoni will enjoy the privilege of signing off on his own terms. “The future course of action is in the hands of the selection committee. I don’t think we need to discuss anything more on it. First of all, he is not available. Second, we have already started grooming youngsters,” said chief selector MSK Prasad on Sunday.

On his part, Dhoni informed the selectors not to consider him for the West Indies tour. After that, alongside other formats, India play T20s against South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh at home in the run-up to next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. Will Dhoni be interested in prolonging it till then? Or will he take the hint? Because about Dhoni there is often this air of uncertainty, it’s unwise to preempt and difficult to deduce.

To answer the first question, yes he might be looking forward to World T20. He is still a star in the Indian Premier League and making himself unavailable for the WT20 might send out wrong signals about his future at Chennai Super Kings. It’s important to play to stay match fit. There may also be this consideration of keeping the brand value alive. Someone like Dhoni, who doesn’t participate in domestic cricket, can’t afford to opt out of everything. So if he wants to stay relevant, he has to make himself available for selection for the matches after West Indies.

The second question is trickier. It’s not clear if the selectors and Dhoni have had a word or whether the player is contemplating retirement. Under the circumstances, Prasad’s remark that they have started grooming youngsters and Rishabh Pant will get more chances now on is significant. This is different from the roadmap until the 50-over World Cup, where Dhoni was a constant in the middle-order and the rest of the plan revolved around him.

One can talk about averages and role-specific performance, but it was clear in England that Dhoni is far from the master of limited-over batting he used to be. The 38-year-old body may not be complaining while running between wickets, but it was hardly getting into position to play. Always an industrious batsman, he was making the process look more laborious. In other words, he was occupying a place which should have gone to someone else.

Although late, the selectors have finally said that they have started looking for someone in his slot. If they persist with this line of thinking, Dhoni may have to think before making himself available for selection again.