Picture Credit: IPL/BCCI
Former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his sudden retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020, which had left the cricketing world shocked. The CSK skipper posted a video on his Instagram handle with his memories of his 15-year-long career with an emotional song in the background. “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. from 1929 hrs consider me as retired,” he captioned it.
Months later, CSK’s opening batsman, Ruturaj Gaikwad opened up on the scene in the CSK contingent following Dhoni’s retirement announcement. Gaikwad revealed that the CSK team including Dhoni were practising and training like no other day on August 15. “Around 6:30 pm our practice got over and at 7:00 we all, including Mahi bhai, sat for dinner. And suddenly someone told me on Instagram that Mahi Bhai had announced his retirement!” mentioned the CSK opener.
“I couldn’t dare to ask him, nobody could,” Gaikwad on Dhoni’s retirement announcement
CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad further mentioned that neither he nor did anyone else had the guts to ask Dhoni about this retirement announcement. “There was no vibe that something like that was going to happen, no discussions, no one knew anything at all,” he mentioned.
Just like the rest of the world, the CSK camp was equally shocked about MSD’s retirement from international cricket, that too without a farewell match and farewell speech.
“It didn’t sink in immediately, took 2-3 days to realise it,” Gaikwad
Ruturaj Gaikwad further revealed that the CSK unit including him couldn’t process the announcement immediately. “It didn’t sink in immediately that we won’t see him again in international cricket or that a man of his stature has retired like this,” the CSK opener expressed. He further went on to mention that it took 2-3 days for the announcement to completely sink in for the CSK players.
Notably, MS Dhoni, CSK’s age-old teammate Suresh Raina also announced his retirement the same day via his Instagram handle.
Watch the video here: