MS Dhoni retired from Test cricket in December 2014

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Legendary India batsman Sunil Gavaskar believes that MS Dhoni shouldn’t have retired from Test cricket in 2014.

Dhoni announced his decision to walk away from the format after the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne, which ended as a draw.

Gavaskar’s comments come after wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who came in for the injured Wriddhiman Saha, dropped South Africa batsman Hashim Amla and captain Faf du Plessis in the first innings of the second Test in Centurion. Amla and Du Plessis subsequently proceeded to score 82 and 63 respectively.

Parthiv made another massive error in South Africa’s second innings as he shelled a chance to dismiss opener Dean Elgar. The drop proved costly yet again as Elgar went on to make 61.

“If MSD (Dhoni) wanted to carry on, he could have carried on,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying by NDTV. “Clearly, I think he might have had too much of captaincy (burden).

“I would have actually liked him to maybe give up captaincy and still stay in the team as wicketkeeper batsman because his advice in the dressing room would have been invaluable. Maybe he thought that the best course for him was to not to be there.”

Gavaskar also heaped praise on Saha, who will miss the third Test in Johannesburg due to a hamstring injury.

“Wriddhiman Saha has been missed. There is no question about it. His keeping is at an altogether different level,” Gavaskar said. “Parthiv Patel though is a competitive wicketkeeper. He is a little fighter as we can see when he gets the bat in his hand. However, sometimes with the gloves, he can have a little bit of an issue.

“We saw with that missed opportunity (Elgar on Day 3). If we had gone for it and dropped it, then there would have been no issues. But not going for a catch does make you feel a little bit disappointed.”