Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement announcements may have come out of the blue, shocking the world with their timings, but in reality they were well chalked out in the former captain’s mind.

A little over four years since India lost the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester by 18 runs, Dhoni has revealed his run-out by Martin Guptill that day sealed the decision to retire from international cricket in his mind.

A distraught Dhoni trudging back to the pavilion after his dismissal is one of the most tragic moments in Indian cricket history. As he walked back, and India eventually crashed out of the tournament, not many would have thought that it was his last game for the country.

That match was on July 9, and on August 15, 2020, Captain Cool posted on Instagram: “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout from 1929 hrs consider me
as Retired”.

Speaking at an event in Bangalore recently, Dhoni said: “It is difficult to control the emotions in a close game (especially) when you have lost.

“Inside, I am done with my planning. To me, that was the last day I played cricket for India (even though) I announced my retirement one year later. But the fact was, that day I retired.”

The 42-year-old continued: “We are given those machines (for monitoring fitness) and every time I went to the trainer I gave it back to him but he would say, ‘no, no, you keep it’. Now, how do I tell him that I do not need this anymore and I will not be needing it because I did not want to announce it (retirement) at that point of time.”

Dhoni, who still fills IPL stadiums to the brink, often stumping batsmen in a flash — as he did Shubman Gill during Chennai Super Kings’ win over Gujarat Titans earlier this year — added that the decision also took away the rare opportunity of representing the country.

“Once you are high on emotion, you know the only thing you have done in the last 12 or 15 years is playing cricket and then there is no more a chance of representing your country.

“It is a very big thing. You have so many people but only a few get a chance to represent the country. Irrespective of which sport you play, when you go out to play you are representing your country.

“If you go to Commonwealth (Games) or Olympics or we go in ICC tournaments — we are representing our country and that is a very big thing. Once I quit cricket there was no way out for me to represent our country,” Dhoni, India’s 2011 World Cup-winning skipper, said.