Why are people in a hurry to see Dhoni off?: Shastri

Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri recently expressed surprise over the barrage of criticism heading former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's way with respect to the latter's retirement.

"Why are people in a hurry to see him off?" asked Shastri, in an interview with The Times of India.

Taking a dig at those criticising Dhoni, Shastri said that "half the guys commenting on MS Dhoni can't even tie their shoelaces".

Stating that maybe they didn't have enough talking points, Shastri said, "After 15 years of playing for India, wouldn't he know what's the right thing to do?"

Shastri added that Dhoni and everyone who knew him was aware that his exit was near and making statements at his expense was "downright disrespectful".

"MS Dhoni has earned the right to retire when he wants to. Let this debate end once and for all," said Shastri.

The coach also stated that Dhoni had been aiding the team with his expertise and cited the example of Dhoni having a talk with debutant Shahbaz Nadeem who was playing his first Test match in Ranchi.