Former players want Dhoni to stick around

When Team India Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Team India to the memorable World Cup victory in April nobody knew he would put himself to test to pick between Test cricket and ODI so soon.

Barely ten months after that famous win, Dhoni on Thursday hinted that he might retire from Test by 2013 if he was to play in the 2015 cricket World Cup.

"I am surprised on Dhoni's sudden statement on retirement when senior players are still around. He must have said keeping something in his mind. But such ups and downs do happen in cricket," former international wicketkeeper Pradip Khanna said.

"Let seniors think of retirement gracefully. Who is there to replace Dhoni as Test captain in the current team?" Khanna said expressing disappointment over poor performance by senior batsmen in the ongoing Test series against Australia.

Former Bihar Ranji captain Adil Hussain, under whom Dhoni played, said, "Cricket lovers have seen how Bob Simson had retired before coming back as captain to lead Australia against Bishen Singh Bedi-led team. He was 42 at that time".

"Captaining one form of cricket or the other round the year may have taken a toll on him. So he may be thinking to focus on one particular format as Sachin Tendulkar avoiding T20s and Dravid and Laxman focusing on Tests only. But such thoughts should not flash in his mind," Hussain said.

Opining that the timing of Dhoni's disclosure was not 'right', Hussain said Dhoni's statement on retirement from Test matches must have come because of captaining round the year in T20, ODIs, Test and Chennai Super Kings.