One of the best captains that Indian cricketing history has witnessed, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a cricketer every Indian looks up to. He has showcased his arsenal at times of crisis and steered the Indian Cricket Team through tough times. However, the cricket fans in the country saw their worst fear regarding MS Dhoni coming true in July 2018 when India lost the third ODI to England at Leeds, England.
Apparently, following the failure in the third ODI, MS Dhoni was seen taking the ball from the umpire while he was heading off the field. This scene was captured on camera and the video went viral on social media. Netizens went into a frenzy after watching the video and there started speculations about his retirement.
Take a look at the viral video of MS Dhoni here:
@msdhoni taking the ball from the umpires might be the indicator that he is retiring from the limited-overs formats as well. He had done the similar thing after playing in his Test as well as he had taken the stumps with him despite the match ending in a draw.
Rumours….??😢😢😢 pic.twitter.com/FQQXyrvMaF— prakash MSD’ian❤ (@TeejayPrakash) July 17, 2018
Twitterati expressed their dismay on rumors about MS Dhoni’s retirement with sad tweets on the social media. Have a read at a few of them:
@msdhoni taking the ball from the umpires might be the indicator that he is retiring from the limited-overs formats as well. He had done the similar thing after playing in his Test as well as he had taken the stumps with him despite the match ending in a draw.
Rumours….??😢😢😢 pic.twitter.com/FQQXyrvMaF— prakash MSD’ian❤ (@TeejayPrakash) July 17, 2018
Then Vs Now!
When he played his last test match we collect’s the stump and yesterday same scenario happen when he collected ball from umpires MS Dhoni fans stuck in doubt what could be next for dhoni will he retires.@msdhoni @jatinsapru @ChennaiIPL @StarSportsIndia @BCCI pic.twitter.com/8OmYL6x0tr
— Divyanshu Tiwari (@DiTi280500) July 18, 2018
Soulful request!
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@msdhoni @imVkohli @RaviShastriOfc MSD please don’t announce your retirement. We know you took the ball from umpire is a hint of it and same you did for Tests by taking the stumps but please don’t do it as Fans still love you. Indian team needs you for World cup. 😞😞😞😞😞
— Avaneesh Jha (@avaneeshjha) July 18, 2018
However, MS Dhoni never gave any public statement about the incident. While the video went viral and people were conjecturing about his retirement, the cricketer was silent all this time.
But in a surprising turn of events, captain cool MS Dhoni has finally opened about the viral ball collecting video while shrugging off the retirement rumors. In a recent interview, MS Dhoni provided a reason to the ball collecting scene and we all can agree with him. In his statement, he said:
“I took the ball to see why we are not able to get enough reverse swing. Because we will be playing the World Cup in England, we have to (ensure) that we get the reverse swing going. Because it is something that is very important! If the opposition is getting it, we should also get it, at some point or the other. After 50 overs, the ball is useless to the ICC (International Cricket Council), so I requested the umpire ‘Can I get the ball and gave it to the bowling coach?”
Later he added:
“We need to work on it as to how we can get it more scuffed up so that we can get a bit of reverse swing going, that will in-turn help the fast bowlers get those yorkers or wickets in and around the 40th over mark. That would really help us restrict the opposition by not getting too many runs in the last 10 overs.”
While shutting down the rumors about his retirement from the cricketing world, he said that he will be back on the field during the next ODI series of India in the Asia Cup 2019 in UAE.
Currently, the Indian Cricket team in is England playing the five-match Test series against the host country under the captaincy of skipper Virat Kohli and leadership of wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
