Amidst the chatter of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s retirement gaining momentum, his childhood coach from Ranchi, Keshav Banerjee, has said the former India captain’s parents don’t want him to play for the national team anymore.
Following India's exit from the World Cup after their shocking defeat to New Zealand in the semi-finals, speculations have been rife that Dhoni would soon retire from the game.
While there has been no official word on the same from the board or the cricketer, Banerjee in an interview to Sports Tak, said that he visited the wicketkeeper-batsman’s family at their home on Sunday where his parents said that they felt it was time for Dhoni to retire.
He said, ‘Dhoni’s parents told me that the entire media is saying that he should retire, and we feel they’re right. They said we can’t handle this big property anymore’.
Banerjee then said that he told them, ‘You’ve handled it for so long – around 10 to 12 years. You can do it another year’.
Banerjee also said that he told Dhoni’s parents that the 38-year-old should play for another year until the World T20, scheduled to be played in Australia in 2020.
India came into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the crown. Throughout the group stages of the 10-team event, the Men in Blue played true to their favourites tag by winning seven of the eight games with the one against the Kiwis getting called off due to rain. They lost to England, but still managed to top the group with 15 points from nine matches.
During the tournament, Dhoni scored 273 runs in eight innings including a 77 in the semi-final that was enough to help the Men in Blue cross the line.
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