MS Dhoni: R Sridhar, a former fielding coach for India, disclosed that MS Dhoni had already decided to retire from international competition following the World Cup in 2019. Dhoni and Rishabh Pant had a talk on the reserve day of India’s World Cup semifinal match against New Zealand, according to Sridhar.
R Sridhar opens up on MS Dhoni retirement
In his book, Coaching Beyond- My Days with the Indian Cricket Team, Sridhar, who was in charge of coaching team India’s fielding from 2014 to 2021, stated: “I can now reveal that at the time of the interview with the BCCI, which I attended from Antigua, I was reasonably certain that for all practical purposes, MS had played his last match for the country. He hadn’t announced it, of course, but I will tell you why I knew. On the morning of the reserve day in our World Cup semifinal against New Zealand in Manchester, I was the first person at the breakfast hall. I was nursing my coffee when MS and Rishabh walked in, picked up their stuff and joined me at my table.”
Sridhar, a left-arm spinner who represented Hyderabad in the late 1990s, continued further and wrote, “New Zealand had only a couple of overs to bat out and we’d start our innings thereafter, so the match would end reasonably early. Rishabh told MS in Hindi, ‘Bhaiyya, some of the guys are planning to leave for London today itself privately. Would you be interested?’ MS replied, ‘No, Rishabh, I don’t want to miss my last bus drive with the team.”
MS Dhoni runout ended India’s World Cup 2019 dream
On August 15, 2020, MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket after participating in 98 Twenty20 matches, 350 one-day internationals, and 90 Test matches for India.In fact, Dhoni was unfortunately run out during his farewell game in national colors—World India’s Cup semifinal match against eventual runners-up New Zealand—in 2019. India was in trouble in the tight match in Manchester at 92/6, needing 240 runs to win, but Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni turned things around with a 117-run stand for the eighth wicket.
All hopes were placed on Dhoni’s shoulders as the game neared its conclusion. However, destiny had a horrible twist in store. Dhoni attempted to quickly double after tucking the ball to the leg-side, but Martin Guptill’s stroke of genius left the former Indian captain short of his ground, destroying any chances of an unlikely comeback.
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