WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2014 SPORTS

Reaction : Mahendra inning! Good luck!” Singh Dhoni announced his test retire- Former India captain ment with immediate effect yesterday. to Star Sports: “He was a top class Following is reaction to the news. leader...the biggest thing about Indian great Mahendra Singh Dhoni is he’s been a on Twitter: “well done on a wonderful supremely content person with whatever career in @msdhoni. Always has come his way in life. No better state enjoyed playing together. Next target to be in than being supremely content.” 2015 WC my friend!!” Former England captain Nasser Former England captain Michael Hussain on Sky Sports: “His 45 per cent Vaughan on Twitter: “Love the way win-rate, the highest of any Indian cap- @msdhoni plays the game ... But it’s now tain to skipper the side at least five times, the right time for @imVkohli to take the is phenomenal but just as impressive is Indian Test team in a new direction.” the way he has led the side with such Former India captain on dignity and calmness during his 60 Tests Twitter: “ 2 G, Great career MSD in charge.” India cricketer on @msdhoni retired as captain. Way 2 go! Twitter: “Valiant while you led. Valiant in Well done buddy on a fantastic test your departure. #respect” ‘Spoilt brat’ Kohli assumes Test helm

NEW : Firebrand batsman Virat SAGGING MORALE Kohli is likely to instill a new aggression Kohli’s immediate task will be to lift the in the Indian team as he assumes the sagging morale of the team who have just captaincy of a Test side which badly one more game to salvage a modicum of needs to start packing a punch on its pride before starting their defence of the travels. ODI World Cup under Dhoni’s steward- Dubbed by some opponents as a ship. For the moment his appointment is ‘spoilt brat’, the 26-year-old has been as interim skipper but he has long been tasked with leading a team that last won widely seen as the natural successor of a Test series away from home back in Dhoni who was the most successful Test 2011 against the West Indies. match skipper in India’s history. The tim- Kohli, who is taking over from ing of Dhoni’s announcement took many Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the fourth by surprise although the 33-year-old had and final Test in Sydney, has been one of been tipped by many to stand down once the few batsman to emerge with credit the series was over. The right-hander Kohli MELBOURNE: India’s bends back to avoid a bouncer from ’s on the final day of their cricket Test from the tour in Australia which again has emerged as India’s leading batsman match. — AP saw India suffer a resounding series following the recent retirements of a defeat. string of greats including Sachin The loss of the Border-Gavaskar tro- Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman. Dhoni quits tests after India phy follows series defeats in England and From 32 Tests so far, Kohli has aggre- New Zealand earlier this year for a team gated 2,354 runs at an average of 44.41 that was ranked the best in the world lit- with nine hundreds and 10 half-centuries. tle more than three years ago. He has been the vice-captain and led lose series 2-0 to Australia The team’s shortcomings were first India in the first Test against Australia with exposed in England in the summer of Dhoni nursing an injury. Kohli, who has MELBOURNE: The third Test between Australia and 2011 when they suffered the first of two been romantically linked with raven- India in Melbourne failed to deliver a nail-biting SCOREBOARD back-to-back whitewashes. Australia haired Bollywood actress Anushka finish yesterday but ended with a draw tinged with dished out the second hiding. Sharma, is popular with many fans controversy and the shock retirement of long-serv- But while other batsman such as despite his somewhat brash reputation. ing India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni from test Scoreboard at close of play on the fifth day in the third Test between Australia and India yester- swashbuckling opener Even Indian great Sunil cricket. The secured Australia a 2-0 series vic- day in Melbourne, Australia. and the usually solid Gavaskar has been moved to voice his dis- tory with a match in reserve, but their triumph was Australia 1st 530 (S. Smith 192, R. Harris, 9-317 S. Marsh. have struggled Down Under in recent approval of Kohli’s aggressive approach in quickly overtaken by the bombshell that Dhoni Harris 74, C. Rogers 57, B. Haddin 55, S. Watson : U. Yadav 22-3-89-2(w-1), M. Shami weeks, Kohli has scored three centuries- Australia, saying he was “not sure it was had pulled the pin on his 90-test career to concen- 52; M. Shami 4-138). 28-4-92-2(w-1), I. Sharma 20-5-49-2(nb-5), R. and got under the Australians’ skin in the the wisest thing to do”. trate on the shorter formats of the game. India 1st innings 465 (V. Kohli 169, A. Rahane Ashwin 28-4-75-2. process. But , another former Displaying his usual serenity, the 33-year-old 147, M. Vijay 68; R. Harris 4-70) India 2nd innings (Target: 384 runs) “They were calling me a spoilt brat, skipper who managed to famously rile the Dhoni said nothing of his retirement plans and the M. Vijay lbw b Hazlewood 11 and I said maybe that’s the way I am,” Aussies, is a fan of Kohli’s no-holds barred news was broken on the Board of Control for Australia 2nd innings (Overnight: 261-7) S. Dhawan lbw b Harris 0 Kohli told reporters in Melbourne on approach. Cricket in India’s Twitter feed only minutes after the D. Warner lbw b Ashwin 40 L. Rahul c Watson b Johnson 1 Sunday after a spat with express bowler “I like his (Kohli’s) passion. You’ve got to final question was asked at the post-match media C. Rogers b Ashwin 69 V. Kohli c Burns b Harris 54 Mitchell Johnson. “You guys hate me and have passion,” said Ganguly. “It should conference. Batsman , long Dhoni’s heir S. Watson c Dhoni b I. Sharma 17 A. Rahane c S. Marsh b Hazlewood 48 I like that. I don’t mind having a chat on mean something to you, any job you do. I apparent and stand-in skipper during the first test S. Smith c Rahane b U. Yadav 14 C. Pujara b Johnson 21 loss in , will lead the team for the fourth the field.” like him, I like what I see.” — AFP S. Marsh (Kohli) 99 M. Dhoni 24 and final match in Sydney, the BCCI added, capping J. Burns c Dhoni b I. Sharma 9 R. Ashwin not out 8 a surreal day at the . B. Haddin c Dhoni b U. Yadav 13 Extras (lb-6 nb-1) 7 Dhoni, fittingly, played an important part in his M. Johnson c Rahane b Shami 15 Total (for 6 , 66 overs) 174 team’s gritty effort to stave off a third straight test R. Harris c Dhoni b Shami 21 Fall of wickets: 1-2 S. Dhawan, 2-5 L. Rahul, 3- defeat on the fifth and final day. N. Lyon not out 1 19 M. Vijay, 4-104 V. Kohli, 5-141 C. Pujara, 6- He came in to bat with the team in trouble at J. Hazlewood not out 0 142 A. Rahane. 141-5 and grafted an unbeaten 24 after tea. Along Extras (lb-13 nb-5 w-2) 20 Did not bat: M. Shami, I. Sharma, U. Yadav with number seven batsman , Total (for 9 wickets declared, 98 overs) 318 Bowling: M. Johnson 15-3-38-2, R. Harris 16-8- who scored eight, he helped guide the tourists to Fall of wickets: 1-57 D. Warner, 2-98 S. Watson, 30-2, J. Hazlewood 15-3-40-2, N. Lyon 12-0-36- safety. Though Dhoni’s effort was praiseworthy, his 3-131 S. Smith, 4-164 C. Rogers, 5-176 J. Burns, 0, S. Watson 6-1-14-0 (nb-1), S. Smith 2-0-10-0. counterpart Steven Smith’s decision to concede 6-202 B. Haddin, 7-234 M. Johnson, 8-303 R. Result: Draw the draw four overs early, rather than push to the end to get the final four wickets for victory, drew jeers from spectators at the ground. PRESSURE ON and Ajinkya Rahane (48) dug in to tea, before Harris Smith justified the decision, saying his bowlers Australia declared on 318-9, setting India a had Kohli out with the first ball after the break and were “cooked” and his team mates happy enough mammoth 384 to win on a ground where the high- Mitchell Johnson struck to bowl Cheteshwar Pujara with the series win. est successful run-chase was 332 by England back for 21. A jumpy Rahane was out a few overs later, That came after a late declaration at lunch that in 1928/29. For a time, that appeared more than throwing away his for 48 with a horrible pull also raised eyebrows, with Australia’s bowlers given adequate for the hosts, whose pacemen scythed shot, but Dhoni and Ashwin would survive, though only 70 overs to find a way to bowl India out on a through India’s top order with three wickets in the riding their luck at times. flat wicket offering little help. “I don’t think there first nine overs. Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan Dhoni never gave a hint of his plans post-match was still a win there,” Smith told reporters. “I don’t was out lbw for a duck and Lokesh Rahul, surpris- but praised his players for fighting it out. “We lost think we had four wickets in us at the end-there ingly sent in at number three, was caught the next early wickets, we put pressure on ourselves and we wasn’t much breaking up in the wicket, there over for one after a miscued pull shot. Opener had to fight it out and overall it’s a good perform- wasn’t much going on, so I think that was it.” was dismissed lbw for 11. Kohli (54) ance by the team.” —Reuters Bike-loving Dhoni ends long test ride

NEW DELHI: The words “honor” and since 2011. The burden of captaining “virtue” are written across Mahendra and keeping wicket in all three for- Singh Dhoni’s chest in his Twitter pro- mats of the game also took its toll on file picture, fitting words for the Dhoni’s body. Runs began to dry up Indian who displayed both qualities in tests and his movement behind in abundance during his 90-test the stumps slowed down, resulting in career. spilt catches and fluffed stumpings. The honorary Indian Army lieu- Dhoni’s usual limited-over pro- tenant colonel dropped a bombshell activeness often deserted him in the by announcing his retirement from test arena and the clamour was grow- tests at the age of 33 moments after ing to hand the job over to Virat helping India secure a draw in the Kohli, an animated antithesis to third match against Australia. The Dhoni’s phlegmatic brand of captain- series was lost but it was an abrupt cy. “He must have been very end to a career in which Dhoni impressed with how Virat captained emerged from the cricketing backwa- and handled the pressure in the first ters of Jharkhand to take arguably test,” former India captain Sunil the most difficult job in the sport- Gavaskar told Star Sports, referring to leading the national team of 1.2 bil- the Adelaide test which Dhoni lion cricket-crazy Indians. missed due to injury. He rose from being a ticket inspec- “He would have thought ‘Virat is tor with Indian Railways to a charis- ready, so it’s better to make way now’ matic bike-loving cricketer with flow- and that’s what he has done,” ing locks who often changed hair- Gavaskar added. While Kohli’s superi- styles and befriended Bollywood ority as a test batsman is beyond actors. doubt, the 26-year-old’s ability to Dhoni developed his own batting control his emotions, which often and keeping techniques, tinkered threaten to get the better of him, will with conventional field settings and be tested. displayed a natural tendency to take Dhoni leaves test cricket with a calculated risks while maintaining a 45 percent winning record as cap- Zen-like calm. tain to focus on his favoured limited- Under his leadership, India won overs game, starting with leading the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007 and India’s title defence in the 50-over the 50-over World Cup four years lat- World Cup. Dhoni will once again er and were the top-ranked test team marshal his team mates in the tour- for a year and half in between. nament in Australia and New But India’s most successful test Zealand starting in February, and his captain also presided over a dismal fans will go into raptures every time AUSTRALIA: Indian batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni plays a shot : In this photograph taken on September 2, 2012, Indian batsman Virat away record with the team winning he unfurls his trademark “helicopter during the final day of the third cricket Test match against Kohli raises his bat after scoring a . — AFP only two of 22 tests on foreign soil shot”. — Reuters Australia. — AFP