MS Dhoni is arguably India’s greatest-ever captain. Till date, he remains the only Indian captain to win all three ICC tournaments. Under him, India won the 2007 T20 World Cp, 2011 ODI World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy title. The 42-year-old made his last appearance for India against New Zealand in the 2019 ICC World Cup semi-final in Manchester on July 10, 2019. While Dhoni announced his official retirement on August 15, 2023, the former India captain has revealed that he had decided to hang his boots after India lost to New Zealand in the semi-final, which was played across two days at the Old Trafford.
“It gets difficult to control your emotions when you have lost a close game. And inside, I had made my entire planning. 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. We cricketers are given certain machines and all of that. So everytime I went to the trainer I gave it back to him. He said ‘No you keep it. And in my mind, I am like ‘how do I tell him I won’t be needing or using it anymore’. I didn’t want to announce it at that point in time,” Dhoni said during an event recently.
Having served his country for 15 years, Dhoni further revealed that a lot was going on his mind after he finally made up his mind.
“You are high on emotions. The only thing you’ve done in the last 12-15 years is play cricket. And then there is no more chance of you representing the country. There are so many people but only few get that opportunity. And sportspersons, they have that. Irrespective of which sport you play, you are representing your country. Be it Commonwealth Games, Olympics. So once I quit cricket, there was no way I could do that. I could no longer bring any glory. All those things are going on in mind,” he added.
Q&A with @msdhoni
Question: Few days back Sanjay Bangar shared a tweet saying Dhoni, Rishabh and Hardik couldn’t stop their tears. Is this true? pic.twitter.com/2Q9RQXz9Zb
— Yash Jadhav (@farzi_rtist) October 26, 2023
During the 2019 World Cup semi-final, Dhoni was primed to pull off one final finish, but fell short getting run out for 50.
As Dhoni was walking back to the dressing room, with his face down all the way up, fans across the globe knew that it was his final dance.
Earlier this year, Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
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