Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni announced their international retirements within minutes of each other on August 15, 2020, bringing an emotional end to an important chapter of Indian cricket.
Both players were in the Chennai Super Kings bio-bubble ahead of the IPL when they decided to call time on their international careers.
Dhoni announced his retirement through an Instagram post, and Raina followed less than an hour later. Raina later opened up about what happened inside the CSK dressing room after he announced his decision. According to the former India batter, Dhoni was surprised by the timing of his retirement and could not believe that Raina had made the decision so quickly.
Recalling the moment in an interview, the left-hander explained that he walked into the dressing room after announcing his retirement and told Dhoni, “It’s done.” Dhoni’s immediate response reflected his surprise at the unexpected decision.
“It’s the game, right? You live for it as a player. You do so much for the country, parents sacrificed so much, but at that moment I felt this is the best. Because all these things happen… You wanted to spend time with your family. At that point, whether I was 32 or 33, whatever the age was… But in the dressing room when he did it, I went in and said ‘It’s done.’ He goes ‘Ye Kya Kiya Tune’ (What did you just do?),” he was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.
Raina had known beforehand that Dhoni would announce his retirement upon reaching Chennai, so he was mentally prepared for that moment. The two players had already made up their minds to retire on the same day.
The sacrifice that defined their partnership
Raina revealed that Dhoni had sacrificed his own batting position to allow Raina to bat higher up the order during their international careers. When he was not the captain, Dhoni batted higher, but he later took the responsibility of batting lower to allow Raina to play in a more prominent position.
“I think at that time you played for the captain; you played for the team. But why I said captain… because I feel that at the batting position I got an opportunity; the captain sacrificed his own position. He used to bat higher up when Dada was captain, but he took the responsibility, saying, ‘Yuvi Pa (Yuvraj Singh), you go up, Suresh, you play here, I am sitting here,” Raina added.
Dhoni’s gesture of sacrificing his batting position had a profound impact on Raina’s approach to the game. Raina felt motivated to repay that faith by performing at his best for the team. He believed that if Dhoni showed such belief in his abilities, he had to deliver on the field through consistent effort and commitment.
Raina expressed his gratitude for Dhoni’s sacrifice and the bond they shared.
“You know how he is as a person. But I think if someone sacrificed so much for you, then you have that… there should be a capacity to give back. Because everyone has money, but you need a big heart to spend it. So we had that heart for friendship, and it will always remain,” he concluded.
Raina’s international career included 226 ODIs, 78 T20Is and 18 Tests for India. He went on to play his last professional match in the 2021 IPL, finishing his career with four IPL titles won with Chennai Super Kings alongside Dhoni.