On This Day: MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina Announce Retirement from International Cricket

Their bond was so strong that on 15 August 2020, when MS Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket, Suresh Raina decided to follow suit and announced his retirement on the same day. This emotional moment left fans across the world with tears and memories to cherish forever. Both players enjoyed remarkable careers, contributing immensely to Indian cricket and leaving behind a legacy that will always be remembered by fans.

MS Dhoni: The Captain Who Led from the Front

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the guy everyone calls “Captain Cool,” isn’t just a cricketer as he’s a phenomenon. Born on July 7, 1981, in Ranchi, Jharkhand, Dhoni came from a world where dreams were bigger than wallets. His dad was a pump operator, grinding out long shifts; his mom kept their modest home together. Before he was a cricket icon, Dhoni was checking tickets for Indian Railways in Kharagpur, a small-town kid with a fire inside. As a teenager, he played football, diving as a goalkeeper in local matches. His coach saw something different, though, and told him to pick up a cricket bat.

That moment flipped the script on Indian cricket. Dhoni started on Ranchi’s bumpy fields, smashing balls for local teams. He played for Bihar, then Jharkhand, and by 18, he was in the Ranji Trophy in 1999, swinging hard and stumping quick. His power and glove work got people whispering. In 2004, he went with India A to Zimbabwe and Kenya, where he bashed bowlers so hard the national selectors had to call him up. His first ODI, against Bangladesh in December 2004, was a flop, out for zero. But Dhoni didn’t mope.

In April 2005, he smashed 148 against Pakistan, like he was born to hit. Later that year, his unbeaten 183 against Sri Lanka became one of the biggest ODI scores by a wicketkeeper. Those knocks showed he could slug it out and think on his feet. In 2007, India made him captain for the first T20 World Cup. At 26, with no real leadership resume, he led a young team to a heart-pounding win over Pakistan in the final. That was just the start. He took over all formats, leading India in 332 matches and winning 179. His trophy case sparkles: the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

No other captain has all three ICC limited-overs titles. That six he hit to win the 2011 World Cup, after an unbeaten 91, still makes fans choke up. Dhoni’s captaincy stats are rock-solid: 27 wins in 60 Tests, 110 in 200 ODIs, 42 in 72 T20Is. They called him “Captain Cool” because he stayed chill when the game was on fire, whether chasing a huge score or defending a small one. His helicopter shot, a wristy whip that sent balls soaring, was pure theatre. He piled up 10,773 runs in 350 ODIs, averaging 50.57, with 10 centuries and 73 fifties. In Tests, he scored 4,876 runs in 90 matches, with six hundreds.

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In T20Is, he added 1,617 runs in 98 games. Behind the stumps, Dhoni was a magician. He grabbed 634 catches and made 195 stumpings across all formats. His 0.08-second stumping, the fastest ever, was like lightning. In the IPL, he was Chennai Super Kings’ heart, leading them to five titles (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023) and two Champions League T20 wins. His 5,000-plus IPL runs made him the first keeper to hit that mark. India gave him the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2008, Padma Shri in 2009, and Padma Bhushan in 2018. The Army made him an honorary Lieutenant Colonel in 2011, and in June 2025, he joined the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He quit Tests in 2014 and international cricket on August 15, 2020, after his last match in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.

Suresh Raina: The Middle Order Puzzle Solver

Suresh Raina, a left-handed firecracker, was India’s answer to middle-order chaos. Born on November 27, 1986, in Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh, Raina grew up in a Kashmiri Pandit family that left Srinagar in the 1990s. His dad worked in a factory, his mom ran the house, and young Raina found his groove in cricket. At 12, he moved to Lucknow to train at Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, where his talent started to blaze. Raina burst onto the scene with Uttar Pradesh, leading their under-16 team and hitting the Ranji Trophy at 16 in 2003.

On the 2002 India under-19 tour to England, he smashed two fifties, showing he was ready for more. By the 2005-06 Ranji season, he was electric, scoring 620 runs in six games. He also played for India Green and Central Zone, demonstrating his ability to bat, field, and even bowl a bit. His India debut came in 2005, in an ODI against Sri Lanka. Raina became the guy who could save a sinking innings or spark a chase, the first Indian to score centuries in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. In ODIs, he made 5,615 runs in 226 matches, averaging 35.31, with five centuries and 36 fifties.

In T20Is, he scored 1,605 runs in 78 matches, striking at a strike rate of 134.87, with a century against South Africa in the 2010 T20 World Cup. Tests were trickier as he got 768 runs in 18 matches, with a century against Sri Lanka on debut, but short balls got him, especially in England in 2011, where he faced a 29-ball duck, India’s longest in Tests. Raina was huge in India’s 2011 World Cup and 2013 Champions Trophy wins. His unbeaten 36 in the 2011 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan was pure nerve. In limited-overs games, he could steady or swing, like his 65 off 45 balls against Sri Lanka in 2012, which won him Player of the Match.

He even led India a few times, like in 2014 in Bangladesh, where his young team defended 105 to win a 2–0 series. In the IPL, Raina was “Mr. IPL” for Chennai Super Kings. His half-century in the 2010 final sealed their first title. In 2014, he smashed 87 off 25 balls against Kings XI Punjab, nearly nabbing the fastest IPL hundred. He was the first to hit 5,000 IPL runs in 2019. When CSK was banned in 2016 and 2017, Raina captained the Gujarat Lions, scoring 399 runs in 2016.

His fielding was unreal as he won “Best Fielder” in 2010 and was a lock for IPL XI lists. Raina skipped the 2020 IPL for personal reasons and played his last season in 2021. After going unsold in 2022, he retired in September 2022. He kept swinging in the Road Safety World Series and Abu Dhabi T10 League. With his leg-side shots and sneaky off-spin, Raina was a middle-order rock and fielding star. Their names still spark roars in stadiums, and their stories fuel dreams for kids with bats in hand.