Reacting for the first time on reports of his ODI retirement, former India captain MS Dhoni threw light on why he collected the match-ball from the on-field umpires after the third India-England ODI.
The ball collection had nothing to do with Dhoni’s retirement, nor was he collecting it as a souvenir. Dhoni, in fact, wanted to inspect the reason behind Indian bowlers not getting reverse swing at Headingley, which resulted in a thumping series-losing 8-wicket loss for Team India.
“The ball is any way of no use for the ICC after 50 overs, so I wanted to keep the ball for our bowling coach Bharat Arun and inspect why we did not get reverse swing,” Dhoni said.
Here’s what Dhoni said
Shastri's comments
Interestingly, Team India head coach Ravi Shastri had said the same thing after social media was abuzz with reports of Dhoni quitting limited overs cricket.
“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 had said, quashing the rumours.
Why the speculation
After losing the 3rd ODI to England by 8 wickets at Headingley, MS Dhoni was spotted taking the match ball from the on-field umpires. Since the video went viral on social media, the people took it as an indication that Dhoni might bid adieu to the gentlemen’s game - much like how he took the stumps following India and Australia’s Test draw in 2014.
A few days later, he surprisingly announced retirement from the longest format of the game.