Losing got to Dhoni, that's why he quit

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement from Test cricket took everyone by surprise, more for the timing than anything else. He had hinted as far back as 2012 that he would see how his body shapes up and then take a call by 2013. He has taken that call now, and the format that he has chosen to retire from is the longest version of the game.

That is hardly surprising, since that is not his natural format, and as he got into the 30s the body started to give out distress signals which he couldn’t ignore.

That he was also the skipper made it even harder, as there is no such thing as a rest moment, leave aside a rest day for a national captain. If there is no practice planned on the rest day, and in Dhoni and Fletcher’s time there were more optional practice and off days than under any other skipper in the world, there was no real rest for the skipper.

While there could be a rest day for the body, the skipper is usually thinking how his team can get better, and so mentally, his mind is ticking even on non-practice days. He is thinking and planning team combinations, strategy against dangerous opponents and trying to keep the morale upbeat if the team is going through a low period and not winning much.

This is a huge task, as players’ temperaments can differ and each player has to be treated differently. It is here that a good coach and a team manager become crucial.

In India, the team manager’s post rotates among officials, so there is no continuity and the players know that they don’t have to be afraid of him so don’t take him seriously. If there was a team manager who would help in the team discipline matters, many a problem would be solved and a great load taken off the captain’s shoulders.

In recent times, Dhoni was looking tired with all the keeping he was doing in all three formats of the game. Clearly getting up and down for more than 450 runs in just about every Test match was taking a toll on his body but also the mind as he had to think of ways to stop the opposition from running away with the game.

Sometimes the burden just gets too heavy, and when that happens, the enthusiasm for the game and not just the captaincy flags down, and that’s what must have happened.

What is even more frustrating is when the game slips out of your hands when at one stage it looked firmly in your grip. That is the toughest part of captaincy. Not the losing, but to lose from a position where you were actually in control.

He will be sorely missed as India found out in that spirited run chase at the Adelaide Oval in the first Test of the series. Not only would his mix of attacking and watchful batting have taken India home, but he would have known that if the win was looking impossible to ensure that India did not go down in the first Test of the series. Not only would his mix of attacking and watchful batting have taken India home, but he would have known that if the win was looking impossible to ensure that India did not go down in the first Test of the series itself.

That loss is now hurting India as they head into the final Test of the series with a 2-0 deficit. If that Test had been saved, India would have still had a chance to level the series in Sydney which has often had a spin-friendly pitch over the years.

Test cricket will find quite a lot of new faces in the New Year. Mahela Jayawardene has called it quits in Test cricket and Sri Lanka will be hard pressed to find a batsman who can bat and entertain like him. Kumar Sangakkara, too, is considering his future in the game so Sri Lanka will have some really big gaps to fill.

All eyes, however, will be on the new India skipper Virat Kohli and how he handles his new responsibility. It is one thing to be a standby captain and quite another when it is a full-time job.

The most impressive aspect of Kohli’s cricket has been a willingness not just to learn but work hard to improve. If the rest of his team does even half of that, Indian cricket will have plenty to look forward to.