India cricket team’s coach Ravi Shastri has quashed all social media talk of MS Dhoni retiring over an innocous moment following the third ODI against England. Video grab of Dhoni taking the ball from the umpire led many to believe that the veteran is going to retire – much like how he took the stumps following India and Australia’s Test draw in 2014. A few days later, he surprisingly announced retirement from the longest format of the game.
Dhoni asked for the ball from umpires Bruce Oxenford (Australia) and Michael Gough (England) as the teams walked back towards the pavilion. India lost the third ODI by 8-wickets and with that the series 2-1 for first bilateral series lost since 2016.
Shastri dismissed all speculation on Dhoni’s retirement on Wednesday. “MS wanted to show the ball to Bharat Arun. He wanted to show him the wear and tear the ball had endured, to get a general idea of what the conditions were like,” Shastri clarified to Times of India.
Even with social media rife with speculation that former India captain will soon bid a final goodbye to all formats, Shastri ended that with one line. “That’s rubbish. MS is not going anywhere,” Shastri confirmed.