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Suresh Raina revealed why he and MS Dhoni had chosen the occasion of Independence Day to announce their retirement.

Indian Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina have announced their retirement from International Cricket on Saturday, August 15.

First, it was Dhoni who shocked the country with his emotional instagram video post announcing his retirement and then Suresh Raina posted a picture where he is sitting with MS Dhoni and CSK team mates and wrote a one line post saying he chooses to follow Dhoni in this journey.

But, was it a spontaneous decision by Raina and Dhoni or did both of them discuss before announcing their plans for retirement?

While speaking to Dainik Jagran, Suresh Raina told that both he and Dhoni had made the decision even before arriving in Chennai for IPL 2020 pre-season camp on Friday.

Rain said to the leading daily that he knew Dhoni would announce his retirement after reaching Chennai and so he was ready by then.

Raina has revealed an interesting theory behind their retirement on August 15, the Independence day. He said that MS Dhoni’s Jersey number is 7 and his jersey number is 3 which combinedly becomes 73, which also marks India’s 73 successful years of achieving Independence on August 15, 2020.

Both Raina and Dhoni felt that there could not be a better day to announce the decision of the retirements from International Cricket.

Chennai Super Kings’ twitter handle had posted a video on August 16 where the emotional Suresh Raina is seen hugging MS Dhoni after a practice match in Chennai on the evening of August 15. The CSK team was seen walking towards the bus after the practice match.

Suresh Raina also revealed that he and Dhoni hugged and cried a lot after announcing their retirement. He said that he, Piyush, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, and Karn sat together after that and discussed their careers and their relationship. They had a grand party that night.

Just as fans were celebrating DHoni’s comeback with IPL, the news of his retirement came as a shock to them.

Most of Suresh Raina’s international appearances came under Dhoni’s captaincy. He scored 5615 runs in 226 ODI matches. He was the first Indian player to score a century in T20I cricket and first from the country to score a century in all three formats of the game.

Dhoni is considered one of the most successful captains of all time in international cricket who led the Indian team to victory in the 2007 world T20 which was also his first assignment as a skipper of the team.

By Gayatri Yellayi