Former India manager R Sridhar has revealed how Mahendra Singh Dhoni hinted he would retire from international cricket during a chat with Rishabh Pant at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England. Sridhar revealed in his book that Pant asked Dhoni if he wanted to leave for London privately after the semi-final against New Zealand, at which the former India captain said he did not want to miss his last bus ride with the team. The conversation took place at the breakfast table on the morning of Reserve Day in Manchester.
“I can now reveal that at the time of the interview with BCCI, which I attended from Antigua, I was reasonably certain that for all practical purposes MS had played their last game for the country. didn’t announce, of course. Of course, but I’ll tell you why I knew. On the morning of reserve day in our World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester, I was the first person in the breakfast room. I was drinking my coffee when MS and Rishabh came in, picked up their things and joined me at my table,” Sridhar wrote in his book, “Coaching Beyond – My days with Indian Cricket Team »
“New Zealand only had a few overs to beat and we were starting our innings afterwards so the game would end reasonably early. Rishabh told MS in Hindi: ‘Bhaiyya some of the lads are planning to leave for London today. “Today in private. Would you be interested?” MS replied, ‘No, Rishabh, I don’t want to miss my last bus ride with the team.’ added Sridhar.
“I didn’t say a word to anyone about that conversation out of pure respect for the man. He had given me confidence. I couldn’t open my mouth. So I didn’t say a word. word to Ravi, not Arun, not even my wife,” Sridhar said.
Dhoni retired from international cricket after playing in the semi-final against New Zealand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni announced his retirement a year later on August 15, 2020.
Dhoni statistics for India
DhoniThe stats of are simply amazing, especially in limited time games. The stats include 350 One Day Internationals (ODIs) he played for India, in which he scored 10,773 points with an astonishing average of 50.58 and a strike rate of 87.56. In his ODI career, Dhoni had 73 fifties and 10 centuries. On the other hand, the 2011 World Cup-winning captain played 98 T20 internationals for India, scoring 1,617 carries at an average of 37.6 and a strike rate of 126.13.
Dhoni’s other stats include 90 Test appearances in which he scored 4,876 points with an average of 38.09. During a ten-year Test career, the 39-year-old hit 33 fifty, six hundred and a double hundred.
Image: ANI/BCCI