Ex-India coach reveals never-before-heard detail about MS Dhoni's retirement plans in 2019

Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has revealed how Mahendra Singh Dhoni hinted at retiring from international cricket in a conversation with Rishabh Pant during the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England. Sridhar revealed in his book that Pant had asked Dhoni if he would like to leave for London privately after the semifinal against New Zealand, to which the former India captain said he didn't want to miss his last bus ride with the team. The conversation happened at the breakfast table on the morning of the reserve day in Manchester.

"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. 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,” Sridhar wrote in his book, ‘Coaching Beyond- My days with the Indian cricket team’

“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.'” Sridhar added.

"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.

Dhoni took retirement from international cricket after playing the semifinal against New Zealand at the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni announced his retirement a year later on August 15, 2020.  

Dhoni's stats for India

Dhoni's statistics are nothing short of amazing, particularly in limited-over games. The stats include 350 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) he played for India, in which he scored 10,773 runs at an astounding average of 50.58 and a strike rate of 87.56. In his ODI career, Dhoni had 73 fifties and 10 centuries. On the other hand, the 2011 World Cup-winning captain played 98 T20 Internationals for India, scoring 1,617 runs at an average of 37.6 and a strike rate of 126.13.

Dhoni's other statistics include 90 Test appearances in which he scored 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09. In a ten-year Test career, the 39-year-old achieved 33 fifties, six hundreds, and one double-hundred.

Image: ANI/BCCI