Behind The Scenes: When Dhoni & Raina Announced Retirement

MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina share a hug after both announced their international retirement on Saturday.

(Photo: Screengrab)

Just as fans had started celebrating the return of MS Dhoni, having spotted him with his CSK team-mates on their way to Chennai for the team’s pre-season camp, the former India skipper shocked one and all with a post on Instagram announcing his international retirement.

Dhoni posted a video montage with pictures at different points of his career along with a caption: "Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired (sic)."

Soon after his post, Suresh Raina too decided to update his career status and posted, "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!".

Both players were in Chennai at the time, having wrapped up the team’s first training session of the season. And while they are now inaccessible to the public, having entered CSK’s ‘bio-secure bubble’ ahead of the IPL season, the team’s social media handle gave a glimpse of the two team-mates following their big decision.

Suresh Raina can be seen giving Dhoni a hug as both then continue to walk together out of the stadium and into the team bus.

Most of Raina's international appearances came under Dhoni's captaincy. He scored 5,615 runs in 226 ODI matches, which included five centuries and 1,605 runs, including one century in 78 T20Is. He was the first Indian player to score a century in T20I cricket and the first from the country to score a century in all three formats of the game.

Dhoni, considered one of the most successful captains of all time in international cricket, led the Indian team to victory in the 2007 World T20, which was also his first assignment as skipper of the team in any format, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy.

As Test captain, he also led the team to the numero uno spot in the ICC rankings for the first time ever in 2009. He is also the only captain to win all three ICC trophies. He has also led India to victories in the Asia Cup in 2010 and 2016.

Dhoni also holds the record for most wins as an Indian captain in ODIs and T20Is, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs.

He made his international debut in an ODI against Bangladesh in December 2004 and made his Test debut a year later against Sri Lanka. He amassed 10,773 runs in 350 ODIs and 1,617 runs in 98 T20Is. The wicketkeeper-batsman also has 229 ODI sixes - the most for an Indian batsman.

Dhoni had retired from Test cricket on December 30, 2014 and in the longest format of the game, he played 90 matches and scored 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09.