15th August, 2020 proved to be a historical day for Indian cricket as MS Dhoni called it a day following months of speculation over his cricketing future. The legendary Indian captain and keeper-batter took to Instagram to post a series of images from his career and wrote the caption, "Thanks - Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me as Retired."
The Ranchi-born cricketer had changed the face of Indian cricket since assuming the leadership duties across formats. After winning the Champions Trophy in 2013, Dhoni became the first captain to win all three ICC trophies as he had won the 20-over and 50-over World Cup in 2007 and 2011, respectively. He had also become a bona fide match-winner down the order.
The 2019 World Cup semi-final at Old Trafford in Manchester proved to be his final match in Indian colours. He was run-out by an accurate throw from Martin Guptill for 50 as the Men in Blue suffered a heartbreaking loss in a low-scoring contest and exited the tournament. However, Dhoni hadn't addressed his future for months following that, with the BCCI also cutting him off the central contract list ahead of the next cycle.
"I knew that this will be my last World Cup" - MS Dhoni remembers the run-out moment
During a recent interaction at an event, Dhoni admitted that it was heartbreaking to lose the way they did; however, he felt enough time to move on from that. He explained, as quoted by India Today:
"It was a difficult one because I knew that this will be my last World Cup, so it would have been good to be on the winning side. It was heartbreak moment, so we accepted the result and we tried to move on."
"Time thoda lagta hai aur World Cup ke baad thoda time mil bhi jata hai. Maine toh uske baad international khela nahi hai toh mujhe toh kaafi time mila-hai." (It takes time and one gets some time after the World Cup. I haven't played ar international after that, so I got a lot of time). "So, yes, it was a heartbreak, but at the same time you have to get out of it."
