4 Senior Players Who Retired Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Captaincy

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the finest-ever captain who had led the Indian Team in all three formats. Mahi is still the only one who has won all three ICC titles as captain. But many of the senior players weren’t happy with how MS treated them. Today, we will name the players who had to retire when MS Dhoni was the skipper of Team India.
5 Senior Players Who Retired Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Captaincy
5 Senior Players Who Retired Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Captaincy

MS Dhoni will be remembered as the finest-ever captain of the Indian Cricket Team. He had led India to three triumphs in his career and he is the only skipper in the world to do so till now.

Mahi had a knack for winning the ICC titles and he could have also won even more trophies. But his decision-making in those tournaments wasn’t spot-on like the earlier ones.

MS Dhoni had given many chances to the youngsters of Team India and some of them had also played with him in the Indian Premier League seasons for Chennai Super Kings.

It was Mahi Bhai who made Rohit Sharma open the innings in the limited overs format matches and now HITMAN has been the most successful opener in world cricket. 

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma

But many of the legendary and former players of the men in the blue side weren’t happy with the treatment which MSD gave them. Some of the senior players have said that we were removed from the team without any faults of ours. Some of those players had played an essential part in the wins of the 2007 T20 WC and 2011 ODI WC. 

Still, they did not even have a farewell match. Many of the senior players of the team also said that MS Dhoni didn’t treat us well.

So today, we will name those four players who retired when Mahendra Singh Dhoni captained the Indian team. Mahi got the captaincy responsibility in 2007 and he led the team till 2016. 

1. Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir
Gautam GambhirImage Credit: Twitter/Gautam Gambhir

India’s world cup wins in 2007 and 2011 would not have been possible if Gautam Gambhir wouldn’t play those two match-winning knocks in the finals of those events.

His 75-run knock against Pakistan in the 2007 T20 World Cup and 97 runs in the 2011 ODI World Cup was very special, allowing India to win those two big ICC events.

But Gamhir has been credited only a little for that and MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 91 runs have been cherished more. GG was also dropped from the team when Mahi was the skipper.

MS relied more on the rotation policy which gave Shikhar Dhawan more chances than Gautam and so, Gambhir announced his retirement in 2018.  

2. Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag

Viru was also part of the 2007 World T20 and 2011’s ODI WC. Sehwag was also a terrific opening batter for the men in blue side in all three forms of the game.

His partnership with Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar was thrilling to watch. But just like GG, Viru didn’t succeed much after the 2011 world cup.

Sehwag lost his magic which was used to entertain the crowd and also bring nightmares to the opposition bowlers. So he also had to retire in 2015 when Mahi was the skipper of Team India. 

3. Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan SinghImage Credit: @ICC

The former spin bowler was a key man in the 2007 world cup win for India and he also played well in the fifty-overs world cup in 2011. Bhajji was the go-to spin bowler before the arrival of Ravichandran Ashwin.

But as soon as Ash came to play for Team India, Harbhajan was immediately sidelined. Ashwin and Dhoni also played for CSK together in the starting seasons of 2010 and 2011, when the Super Kings won back-to-back titles.

While Bhajji was dropped from the team after India won the 2011 ODI WC and he never returned back. 

4. Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh
Yuvraj SinghImage Credit: Facebook

The man who fought a battle with Cancer and allowed his country to be crowned as the world champion in 2011 was Yuvraj Singh. Yuvi was also an important player for Team India in the 2007 World T20 in South Africa. He had smashed six sixes in an over against England as well in that ICC mega event.

Yuvi also had a golden arm. He bowled well which also helped India to clinch the 2011 ODI WC after 28 long years. After that Singh didn’t get the much-needed backing and support from his skipper MS Dhoni, who was also his friend. Then Yuvi retired in 2019 from all forms of cricket. 

5 Senior Players Who Retired Under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Captaincy
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