'Suddenly someone told me that Mahi Bhai had announced his retirement' - Ruturaj Gaikwad on MS Dhoni's sudden retirement

On August 15, 2020, former Indian captain MS Dhoni left the cricket fraternity shocked by abruptly announcing his retirement from the gentleman’s game. Dhoni quietly bid adieu to the game without any retirement match or farewell speech. The 39-year-old simply posted a video on his Instagram handle to make people aware of his retirement. 

Almost ten months after the episode, Chennai Super Kings’ opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad opened up on the mood of the CSK players after they learned about Dhoni’s retirement. Ruturaj revealed that around 10 to 15 players were training alongside Dhoni in Chennai but no player had an inkling regarding the retirement as they practiced like any other day on August 15.

It was through social media that CSK players got to know about the former skipper’s retirement. When Ruturaj was questioned regarding Dhoni’s retirement from IPL, the batter revealed that nobody knows what goes in the mind of the CSK skipper. “I don’t have any idea about that (if MS Dhoni will retire before next year’s IPL). Because I remember he announced his [international] retirement on 15th August last year. On that day, we were 10-12 people in Chennai practicing just before leaving Dubai. 

“Around 6:30 pm our practice got over and at 7:00 we all, including Mahi Bhai, sat for dinner. And suddenly someone told me on Instagram that Mahi Bhai had announced his retirement! There was no vibe that something like that was going to happen, no discussions, no one knew anything at all. So, you never know with him. Anything can happen,” Ruturaj Gaikwad told India TV.

I couldn’t dare to ask him because we all were still grieving: Ruturaj Gaikwad

Further in the interaction, the youngster asserted that nobody had the guts to ask anything from Dhoni related to his retirement. All the players were quite shocked and it took them around three to four days to sink in the news. Along with Dhoni, Suresh Raina also announced his retirement via his Instagram handle. 

“I couldn’t dare to ask him because we all were still grieving. It didn’t sink in immediately that we won’t see him again in international cricket or that a man of his stature has retired like this. It took 2-3 days to realize it. Not only me but for everyone present there,” Ruturaj claimed.