Former India skipper MS Dhoni has seemingly announced his retirement from international cricket through an Instagram post.
Update: The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed the development later on Saturday.
Dhoni had last played for India during their 2019 World Cup semi-final exit against New Zealand last year and has been out of the Indian team since then.
Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. India were also ranked No 1 in the Test rankings under his captaincy.
Of late, his form hadn’t been great and he was getting older too. He would have been aware of that as well. The retirement decision has been debated vigorously by fans all over India and the world.
But the inability of the younger generation to grab their chance meant that neither the selectors nor Dhoni were ever truly sure of the path forward.
In the end, though Dhoni – as he often did with many of his decisions – threw up a surprise with an Instagram post on August 15.
“Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired (sic)“, he wrote in the post.
The video posted by Dhoni is a montage with images of his cricketing journey with the Indian team. The video, which has the song Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon from the 1976 Hindi movie Kabhie Kabhie playing in the background, starts with stills of his international debut in 2004.
The video goes on to show some the highs and lows of his career. The victory at the 2007 World T20, the 2011 World Cup triumph and the 2013 Champions Trophy are some of the big moments that feature. The video also has images of MSD playing with other Indian cricketing greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
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