Suresh Raina reveals reason behind him and MS Dhoni choosing 15 August to announce retirement

Suresh Raina, who announced his retirement from international cricket on 15 August along with former India captain MS Dhoni , has spoken about the decision and also revealed the day’s events. According to a report in ESPNCricinfo that cites another report from Hindi daily  Dainik Jagaran, Raina knew about Dhoni’s imminent retirement and was prepared for the moment. “I knew Dhoni would announce his retirement upon reaching Chennai, so I was ready. After announcing our retirement, we hugged and cried a lot. I, Piyush, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, and Karn sat together after that, talked about our careers and our relationship. We partied during the night,” Raina said. [caption id=“attachment_8679701” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. Sportzpics[/caption] Both Raina and Dhoni are members of Indian Premier League side Chennai Super Kings and will soon fly to UAE to play this year’s edition. Raina also said that both him and Dhoni had decided to announce their retirement on Independence Day and gave a unique reason behind selecting this particular day. “We had already made up our minds to retire on Saturday (August 15). Dhoni’s jersey number is 7 and mine is 3. Put it together and it makes 73. And on August 15, India completed 73 years of independence, so there couldn’t have been a better day,” the southpaw added. On Saturday evening, MS Dhoni put up a video with a collage of images from his playing days along with an old Hindi song and wrote, “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired. (sic)” Minutes later, Raina also took to Instagram and wrote, “It was nothing but lovely playing with you, @mahi7781 . With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey. Thank you India. Jai Hind!”