MS Dhoni Suresh Raina Retirement 15 August: There have been many beautiful examples of friendship in the cricket world. But the friendship between MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina is still intact. Their friendship is not limited to the field only because they are very close in the world outside cricket as well. Their friendship is such that on one hand Dhoni is known as ‘Thala’ and on the other hand Raina is known as ‘Chinna Thala’.
When was the foundation of friendship laid?
Suresh Raina writes in his book (autobiography) that the foundation of his friendship with MS Dhoni was laid during the 2005 Duleep Trophy. In those days, a match was being played in Gwalior in February 2005, in which Raina was very impressed by Dhoni’s confidence, self-reliance and aggressive style of playing. After that, both of them were seen together in the camp organized in Bangalore for India’s senior team. With the passage of time, their friendship grew so much that they even started sharing a room.
Dhoni and Raina retired on 15 August
MS Dhoni played his last international cricket match against New Zealand in July 2019. He had been away from cricket for more than a year, then on 15 August 2020, i.e. India’s Independence Day, MS Dhoni announced his retirement by sharing a video on Instagram. The cricket world had not yet recovered from the news of Dhoni’s retirement, then a few hours later Suresh Raina also shared a video on Instagram. He told through the caption that he is saying goodbye to cricket.
Why did you take retirement on 15th August
Suresh Raina had said in a media interview a long time ago, while giving the reason for retirement on 15 August, “We had already decided to retire on 15 August. Dhoni’s jersey number is 7, my jersey number is 3. Both of them together make 73 and on 15 August 2020, India completed 73 years of independence. According to me, there could not have been a better day than that for retirement.”
Suresh Raina was a part of the 2011 World Cup winning Indian team. But MS Dhoni’s achievements as a captain speak volumes. Dhoni was given the captaincy during the 2007 T20 World Cup and he took rest only after making India the world champion. Apart from this, India also won the 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy under Dhoni’s captaincy.
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