MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina Announce Retirement From International Cricket
NEW DELHI : In what may come as a big surprise to cricket fans around the world, experienced wicket keeper-batsman and India’s most successful captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Saturday announced his retirement from international cricket.
The reticent man from Ranchi will, however, go down as one of the finest to have played the game for India, turning up for the country in a whopping 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20 Internationals. The last leg of his career was, however, marred by a drop in form, prompting several critics to question his resolve to continue.
The 39-year-old took to his official Instagram account to confirm that he is calling curtains on his illustrious 16-year-long international career. Sharing a video of his cricket journey, the former Indian skipper thanked everyone for their love and support throughout his cricket career.
“Thanks.Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired,” Dhoni wrote along with the video. Dhoni made his international debut for India during a One-Day International (ODI) match against Bangladesh in December 2004.
A year later, the wicket keeper-batsman made a Test debut for Team India against Sri Lanka in Chennai. Meanwhile, Dhoni received his maiden cap in the shortest format of the game against New Zealand in Manchester in July 9.
He notched up a total of 4,876 runs in 90 Tests, 10,773 runs in 350 ODIs and 1,617 runs in 98 matches he played for India in the shortest format of the game.
Dhoni was handed over the capataincy in 2007 during his early days of international career. He had a challenge of leading the likes of experienced players namely Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid among others. However, Dhoni did justice to his role as he guided India to World Twenty 20 Cup in 2007.
Later, he also guided Team India to World Cup victory in 2011 after the team’s 28-year-long wait for the title and Champions Trophy final in 2003. Dhoni is the most successful skipper of India as he remains the only captain to win all the major ICC trophies namely 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy.
Under his captaincy, Dhoni had led India in a total of 199 matches in the 50-over format, guiding the side to 110 wins and 74 defeats.The wicketkeeper-batsman had also led India in 60 Test matches and helped the team clinch 27 wins.
Besides this, Dhoni also holds a decent captaincy record in the Twenty20I format. He had guided India to 41 victories out of the 72 matches the country played under his leadership. Dhoni had been on an indefinite break since India’s semi-final exit at the 2019 ICC World Cup at the hands of New Zealand.
As soon as he broke the news, his lakhs of fans on Twitter began pouring their love and respect for the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman. His former teammates, including cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, politicians and actors also wished him for the future.
Meanwhile, Suresh Raina, on Saturday (August 15), joined MS Dhoni in formally announcing his retirement from all international cricket. The CSK allrounder, like his captain, made it official in an Instagram post.
“It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind! (sic)”, he wrote, shortly after the former India skipper hung up his boots.
The Chennai Super Kings’ duo, though, are expected to play in the upcoming IPL 2020, for which both of them arrived in Chennai for a training camp ahead of the team’s departure for UAE.
(With Agency Inputs ).
