MS Dhoni - one of the greatest cricketers ever seen - had announced his retirement on August 15 giving fans a heartbreak.
Not just fans, fellow cricketers as well have been pouring in their wishes for the former Indian skipper. Now that Dhoni has bid adieu, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain and India batsman KL Rahul in a video said that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper was a hero for people like him.
“It was quite an emotional moment for the whole country and for world cricket. We have all grown up wanting to be MS Dhoni. Especially for someone like me who comes from a small town, he was our hero. We always told our families to look it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can always go and try and achieve your dreams,” Rahul said in a video released by the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“I am sure I won’t have enough words to tell him. I will just give him a long hug and say thank you and probably ask him to go easy on Kings XI this time,” Rahul added.
As for KL Rahul, the Karnataka lad made his international debut against Australia in the Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne in December 2014.
Incidentally, the match was Dhoni’s last Test match he had announced his retirement from Test cricket. Rahul went on to represent India in ODIs and T20Is and made his debut in those formats under Dhoni’s captaincy.
He last played with Dhoni in the 2019 ICC World Cup. The No. 7 remains India’s most successful captain across all formats and is also the only international captain to win all three major ICC trophies.