With a video that he posted on Instagram on a Saturday evening of a national holiday, MS Dhoni announced his decision to retire from international cricket.
“Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired.” Your, spelt as ur. No space between the period after throughout. Not 1930 hrs, but 1929 hrs as the time of retirement. A capital R in Retired as if somehow that aspect of his career has taken up its own human form. And to go with that line, a (presumably) homemade video that is a montage of images (some screenshots) of his cricketing journey with the Indian team. With a video that he posted on Instagram on a Saturday evening of a national holiday to announce his retirement from international cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni added another captivating little chapter to a story that has captured India’s imagination since 2004. With the song Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shayar Hoon from the 1976 Hindi movie Kabhie playing in the background, Dhoni turned poet (and video editor?) to bid adieu. Do not listen to television news anchors saying this did not come as a surprise to them. Like he caught many a batsmen short of their crease with his lightning quick reflexes behind the stumps, he had the media stumped. Of course, the decision by itself was anything but lightning quick: it has been a long drawn out saga since that day at Old Trafford, when — just like in his first ever innings — Dhoni was run out.
