Indian cricket captain MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI "stunningly announced his retirement from Test cricket" Tuesday night after "defying Australia to see his side home to a draw at the MCG," according to Wayne Smith of THE AUSTRALIAN. VIRAT KOHLI, "the man the Australian team loves to hate, will captain the Indian side in the final Test of the series next week in Sydney, just as he did in the first Test in Adelaide when Dhoni was nursing a hand injury." Dhoni's retirement is not "from all forms" of the int'l game and he has indicated he will "lead India in the one-day World Cup starting in Australia" on Feb. 14. Thereafter, however, "he is expected to confine his cricket to the highly lucrative Indian Premier League" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/31). REUTERS' Ian Ransom reported displaying his "usual serenity," the 33-year-old Dhoni "said nothing of his retirement plans and the news was broken" on the Board of Control for Cricket in India's Twitter feed "only minutes after the final question was asked at the post-match media conference" (REUTERS, 12/30). In Melbourne, Greg Baum reported Dhoni, a "maverick to the last," skippered India in 60 of his 90 Test matches. Under him, India "ascended to No 1 in the world two years ago." For these feats, "his legendhood is assured in India, also his fortune; reputedly, he is the world's richest cricketer." Evidently, Indian authorities "were as much taken by surprise as everyone else." BCCI Secretary SANJAY PATEL said in a release, "One of India's greatest Test captains, under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the Test rankings, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test cricket, citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket" (THE AGE, 12/31).
TWITTER REACTIONS: The London GUARDIAN reported Dhoni's teammates and former cricketers saluted Dhoni on Twitter.
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GUARDIAN, 12/30).
