MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. (Photo Source: Twitter)
The world of cricket has witnessed a plethora of beautiful bonhomies aka friendship both on and off the field. Similarly, in Indian cricket, there are several examples of strong bonds which started when the cricket stars were quite young.
Out of them Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni are two legends whose beautiful camaraderie is reflected even today. But as the eve of India’s 78th Independence Day approaches, the tale of their friendship becomes even more memorable to cherish and worth remembering.
On August 15 2020, Raina and Dhoni bowed out of international cricket
Interestingly, back in the year 2020, in the 74th year of the Independence of the country, the Chinna-Thala pair of Indian cricket announced their retirement from international cricket leaving all the fans stunned. To give us more clearer picture, Raina is fondly known as ‘Chinna’ by Chennai fans while Dhoni is known by the name of ‘Thala’. Hence, fans often call them ‘ChinnaThala’ as if their friendship was like a match made in the cricket field and heaven.
Notably, MS Dhoni, the legendary wicketkeeper and former world champion Indian Captain featured in a semifinal game against New Zealand during the ODI World Cup in 2019. Fast forwarding to a year later, the legend announced his sudden retirement through a post on Instagram. Before the fans could blink and believe that their favorite number 7 would not play in the famous blue jersey of India ever again, his dear friend Suresh Raina too joined ‘Mahi’ to bid adieu to international cricket.
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Why did Raina choose August 15 as their retirement day?
During an interview with Dainik Jagran, Suresh Raina once revealed the real reason behind taking retirement on August 15 which also happens to be India’s Independence Day. Fascinatingly, Raina went on to say that if the jersey numbers of both his and MS Dhoni’s are combined then it will read as 73. Hence, going by the numerical aspects of August 15, 2020, the world’s biggest democracy had completed 73 years of independence. Hence, the auspicious day was the perfect day to retire.
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“We had already decided to retire on 15 August. Dhoni’s jersey number is 7, my jersey number is 3. Both of them together make 73 and on 15 August 2020, India completed 73 years of independence. According to me, there could not have been a better day than that for retirement,” Raina told Dainik Jagran.
Besides, Suresh Raina lifted the ODI World Cup title in 2011 while MS Dhoni won three ICC trophies during his impeccable captaincy tenure with Team India. During his dream leadership, Dhoni etched his name in the records galore by winning the inaugural T20 World Cup in year 2007 followed by the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. As a result, he became the only skipper to have lifted the World Cup title in all the limited-overs formats.
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