Minutes after MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on August 15, 2020, Suresh Raina also declared that his time was up. Raina was only 33 then, and his decision stunned all. At that time, Raina had played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20Is.
Because all these things happen… you wanted to spend time with your family,” Raina said on a podcast with Aakash Chopra . Now, Raina has revealed Dhoni’s reaction to his retirement. It was a decision that stunned everybody. “It’s the game, right? You live for it as a player. You do so much for the country, parents sacrificed so much, but at that moment I felt this is the best.
“At that point, whether I was 32 or 33, whatever the age was… Speaking on choosing between his maiden T20I ton or the 25-ball 87 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL 2014, he picked his maiden T20I century for India in the 2010 T20 World Cup against South Africa, which made him the first Indian to score a century across all formats. On the game he would go back and play again, he chose the semifinal of the 2015 World Cup against Australia, which India lost by 95 runs while chasing 329. Raina could score just seven runs, and the team failed to build on a 76-run stand between Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan for the first wicket. “The 2015 World Cup semifinal. If I could reverse that, I would want to go back and score 80-90 not out.
I was the first player to score a hundred (for India in T20Is) and we won that game too. It was a pressure game, as we were going to qualify if we won that,” he said.
But in the dressing room, when he did it, I went in and said, ‘It’s done. Why should I have any regrets now, Aakash?” he said. Speaking about his favourite knock, he said, “The T20I century for India. We could have chased it,” he said.
He goes, ‘Ye kya kiya tune’ (‘What did you just do?’). “No regret, to be very honest. I think I am fortunate to have represented my state, my country… and whatever is written, happens. Raina spoke about his maiden T20I century and the match he would like to play again if given a chance. That was special. In the IPL, there are many knocks, but scoring that first hundred for India, that was special. “The pressure one was against Zimbabwe when I scored a hundred, and he batted with me. We were chasing and were four down. I felt I was batting well, but I got out. We had started well. I feel we could have batted better, as the dream was to win back-to-back World Cups. I feel we gave away too many runs.
