New Delhi: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina both announced their retirement from international cricket on Saturday (August 15). This decision gave a huge blow to the cricket fraternity. Raina has now revealed what went through behind the scenes of their announcement. He also said that he knew Dhoni would announce his retirement after reaching Chennai for IPL 2020 camp.
“I knew Dhoni would announce his retirement upon reaching Chennai, so I was ready. I, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar and Karn Sharma reached Ranchi on 14th with the chartered plane, and picked up Mahi bhai and Monu Singh,” Raina told Dainik Jagran.
He further said that after announcing about their retirement they both hugged and cried a lot and partied in night. “After announcing our retirement, we hugged and cried a lot. I, Piyush, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Karn sat together after that, talked about our careers and our relationship. We partied during the night,” added the left-hander.
Raina also stated that their decision to retire was pre-planned as their India jersey together forms 73. And on August 15, India completed 73 years of Independence. “We had already made up our minds to retire on Saturday (August 15). Dhoni’s jersey number is 7 and mine is 3 – put it together and it makes 73. And on August 15, India completed 73 years of independence, so there couldn’t have been a better day,” he added.
“Dhoni began his career on December 23 in 2004 against Bangladesh in Chittagong (now Chattogram), while I made my debut on 30 July, 2005 against Sri Lanka in 2005. Both of us almost began together in international cricket, remained together at CSK, and so we now retired together and will continue to play in IPL together,” Raina concluded. Both of them will be again seen in action playing for CSK in IPL 2020 which was scheduled to be held from September 19 in the UAE.
