Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina has revealed why MS Dhoni and he announced their retirements on the same day, August 15. Raina, who officially retired from international cricket on August 16 after he sent the BCCI his notice, had announced to the public through Instagram that he was going to retire from international cricket with his former captain and mentor MS Dhoni, on the 73rd Independence day of India.
It was expected that MSD would hand in his retirement notice and that it was just a matter of time, but it came as a shock to many that Raina too chose to retire at the age of 33. Now, in an interview to Dainik Jagran, Raina has revealed that both of them had pre-planned their retirements and added that even the date and time had been decided before.
“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,” Raina told Dainik Jagran.
Dhoni made his professional debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh and played and captained India in competitive international cricket until the age of 39. Raina made his debut in July 2005 at the age of 19. His decision to retire at the age of 33 may come as a surprise, but it is quite well known that ‘Mr IPL,’ as he is popularly known as, had been struggling to maintain his fitness levels and thus, had not been awarded a place in the line-up or the Indian cricket team’s squad.
“Dhoni began his career on 23 December 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 now we have retired together and will continue to play in IPL together,” he added.