One day after MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina announced their retirement from international cricket, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) — the Indian Premier League franchise — posted a video of their iconic skipper and his deputy Raina meeting up with their teammates in Chennai for a training camp before they fly out to the UAE for IPL 13, which was moved outside India due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Two roads converged on a #yellove wood ...” CSK captioned the video on Twitter.
Dhoni quit international cricket on Saturday, calling time on an illustrious, trophy-laden career. The decision ended a year of speculation around the future of the enigmatic 39-year-old, who quit Test cricket in 2014 and had not featured for India since the side’s semi-final exit at the ODI World Cup in July last year.
The 39-year-old represented India in 350 ODIs, 90 Tests and 98 T20s while claiming a staggering 829 dismissals behind the stumps.
One of the most admired and respected cricketers, Dhoni is also among the most successful captains in world cricket. It was under his leadership that India lifted the World Cup in 2011 after having led India to triumph in the World T20 in its maiden edition held in 2007 in South Africa. With India winning the Champions Trophy in 2013 in England, Dhoni became the first and is still the only captain to have won all three ICC Trophies.
While his heroics in the limited-overs formats are well documented, it was also under his leadership that India became the No. 1 Test side in 2009 and the team stayed at the top for more than 600 days. He has led India to victory in 21 home Test matches, the most by an Indian captain.
Soon after Dhoni’s announcement, Raina too retired from international duty after being out of the side for quite some time.
In ODIs, he finished after 13 years — the last match in July 2018 in England — with 5,615 runs from 226 games at an average of 35.31, with five centuries and 36 half-centuries. In 78 T20Is, he amassed 1,605 runs, averaging 29.18, at a strike rate of 134.87, also including a hundred and five fifties. He played 18 games in Test cricket and scored 768 runs, including a century on his debut.
