Cricket World Cup: Fully focused Dhoni will make India a more powerful force

Ralph Ellis
31 December 2014

Iconic moment - Dhoni hits the six that won the 2011 World Cup

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India captain MS Dhoni has announced his retirement from Test cricket - Ralph Ellis says that's good news for his country's chances of retaining the World Cup.

"India are 7.26/1 third favourites to retain their World Cup trophy. Fully focused on the one-day game, Dhoni has the potential to give the holders a huge uplift in their performance levels."

The only mistake that Mahendra Singh Dhoni made over his decision to retire from Test cricket was that he didn't do it last summer.

India's captain at 33-years-old had clearly fallen out of love with the five-day game long before he arrived in Australia at the helm of this current Indian touring party. His lackadaisical attitude during last summer's Test series in England made that perfectly clear.

After earning a rare away win at Lord's, the Indians went through the rest of the summer looking hardly bothered with their skipper among the worst culprits as they crumbled to an England side who were themselves desperately low on confidence or form. But then suddenly both Dhoni and his team turned from duds to daredevils when the One-Day stuff started.

His record during the current series confirmed that his days as a Test batsmen were coming to a close. After missing the first match in Adelaide he scored 33 and 0 in Brisbane, then got 11 in the first innings of the drawn game in Melbourne that doomed a side he had once led to number one in the world to a series defeat.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel revealed that Dhoni had been discussing quitting the five-day game for some time. Maybe at 24 not out when the second innings ended he knew it was as close as he could get to going out at the top!

OK, so this all sounds harsh on a man who has been, in his time, one of the legends of the game. Some 256 catches behind the stumps in 90 Tests - plus nearly 5,000 runs - are testament to that. As captain he had also been India's most successful. But knowing when it is time to go is just as important, and now he has finally made the decision it will deliver two benefits for his country.

First of all it will give a shot in the arm to the Test side under the more vibrant if sometimes over aggressive leadership of Virat Kohli. India are 5.95/1 to win the final Test of the current series which starts in Sydney on January 6 and for a game that's now a dead rubber that's an appealing price.

But second, and perhaps more significant, is the impact the decision will have on the World Cup prospects, where India are 7.26/1 third favourites to retain their trophy. Fully focused on the one-day game, Dhoni has the potential to give the holders a huge uplift in their performance levels.

We're talking about a man with an ODI average of more than 50 from 250 matches, with a highest score of 183 not out and a strike rate of 90. It was his huge hit for six that brought the winning runs of the 2011 World Cup final and he'll be burning with desire to do the same thing again.

Dhoni doesn't have to prove his leadership qualities, whatever his failings in his last couple of series in the Test arena. And he'll go to Australia for the World Cup with a side of huge promise, with athletic younger players like Ajinkya Rahane and Mohammed Shami who can bat and bowl and have the high intensity experience of the IPL to have improved their techniques in the shorter forms of the game.

Dhoni's timing might have been wrong for the Test team. For his country's World Cup chances he's made a decision that is absolutely right.