MS Dhoni Retirement: The entire cricketing community was startled when former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from international play on August 15, 2020. According to former India fielding coach R Sridhar, during the reserve day of the 2019 World Cup semifinal versus New Zealand, Dhoni and Rishabh Pant had an intriguing talk, and Pant was the first to learn of Dhoni’s retirement. Follow cricket NEWS & LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
MS Dhoni Retirement: Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar spill the beans on MS Dhoni RETIREMENT, says ‘Rishabh Pant was the 1st to know about Mahi’s RETIREMENT’: Check DETAILS
In his book “Coaching Beyond- My Days with the Indian Cricket Team,” Sridhar said that Dhoni had intimated in a conversation with Rishabh Pant that he had played his final game for India.
“I can now reveal that at the time of the interview to 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,” Sridhar wrote.
“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.”
When Pant asked about travelling to London for the World Cup final at Lord’s with some other Indian players during the reserve day, Dhoni said that he didn’t want to miss his last team bus.
“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.’”
Because of his “sheer admiration” for Dhoni, Sridhar continued, he never told anyone about their talk. “I didn’t say a word to anyone about this conversation out of sheer respect for the man. He had taken me into confidence. I couldn’t shoot my mouth off. So, I didn’t utter a word not to Ravi, not to Arun, not even to my wife,” said Sridhar.
MS Dhoni Retirement: Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar spill the beans on MS Dhoni RETIREMENT, says ‘Rishabh Pant was the 1st to know about Mahi’s RETIREMENT’: Check DETAILS
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