The legendary MS Dhoni is expected to draw curtains on his illustrious Indian Premier League (IPL) career at the end of the 17th edition. There were speculations of Dhoni hanging his boots in the previous season but he surprised fans when he announced that he would get treatment for his knee and play in front of the Chepauk crowd once again. Ahead of IPL 2024, Dhoni handed over the captaincy to opener Ruturaj Gaikwad and will don a new role this season. However, it is very unlikely that Dhoni will spill the beans about his retirement considering his track record.
Dhoni has never been one to announce his retirement in advance and take the attention off the game. He has had quiet farewells. He told about his Test retirement to Suresh Raina in the dressing room. In contrast, his white-ball retirement came much later after his knock in an unsuccessful ODI World Cup 2019 semifinal run chase against New Zealand.
Dhoni showed the world that he wasn’t as cool and calm as he showed it to the world when he bid goodbye to international cricket. He shared photos of his career with the the old Bollywood song ‘Pal do Pal ka shair hoon’ from the movie Kabhie Kabhie sung by Mukesh and wrote: “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired”.
Yuzvendra Chahal speculated that the Covid-19 pandemic had a big role in Dhoni announcing his retirement. Chahal said that Dhoni would have played in the T20 World Cup 2020 had it not been for the pandemic as it was postponed due to global health crisis.
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However, after a few years, Dhoni broke his silence on his limited-overs retirement and clarified that he decided on it after India’s semifinal exit in Manchester. The wicketkeeper-batter was run out by Martin Guptill which prevented him from keeping the game alive till the last ball of the run chase.
“It gets difficult to control your emotions when you have lost a close game. And inside, I had made my entire plan. To me, that was the last day I played cricket for India. I took retirement a year later, but the fact is that, that day I had retired,” said Dhoni who announced his retirement on Independence Day in 2020.
But Dhoni admitted that it was difficult to take the decision considering the fact that he won't be able to represent India anymore.
“Once you are high on emotion, you know the only thing you have done in the last 12-15 yeas is playing cricket and then you realise there is no more chance of representing your country. It’s a very big thing. So many people are there, but only a few get a chance to represent their country,” said the 42-year-old.
“And sportsperson, they have that luxury. Once I quit cricket, there was no way I would be representing my country. I am an Indian citizen and all, but to bring some glory and all those things were in my mind, you are high on emotions at that time,” he added.
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