‘We hugged and cried’ – Suresh Raina spills beans on planned retirement with MS Dhoni

CHENNAI: Apart from being teammates for the Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina have also spent plenty of time together while playing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Indian Premier League (IPL). Raina honed his skills under Dhoni while playing for CSK and went on to become an integral part of the senior team. Thus when MS Dhoni announced his retirement on Saturday evening, Raina followed suit.
Raina shared an image on Instagram with his CSK teammates and announced his decision to join Dhoni into retirement. While nobody had an idea about the timing of Dhoni’s retirement, Raina has now revealed that he was aware of the former Indian captain announcing the decision after his arrival in Chennai.
“I knew Dhoni would announce his retirement upon reaching Chennai, so I was ready. I, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar and Karn Sharma reached Ranchi on 14th with the chartered plane, and picked up Mahi bhai and Monu Singh,” Raina said.
When Dhoni had announced his Test retirement, an image went viral on social media where a teary-eyed Dhoni was standing next to the Uttar Pradesh batsman. Dhoni’s limited-overs retirement was no different and Raina went on to reveal that the two hugged after announcing their respective retirements and also cried a lot.
“After announcing our retirement, we hugged and cried a lot. I, Piyush, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav and Karn sat together after that, talked about our careers and our relationship. We partied during the night,” Raina added.
Raina added that the two cricketers had already decided to announce their retirement on August 15. While it was 73 years since India got Independence, Dhoni’s jersey was 7 while Raina’s jersey was 3. So the two decided that it was a good occasion to hang up their boots together.
“Thanks. Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired,” Dhoni posted on Instagram. (agencies)