Following a night-long debate on the former skipper’s retirement plans, #MSDhoniRetires is trending on Twitter with over 3,000 mentions already by Tuesday morning.
In his 15-year long international cricketing career, Dhoni bagged numerous records including the most wins by an Indian captain in Tests, one-day internationals (ODIs) and T20Is.
While some cricket fans greeted the seemingly sad hashtag with facts, others used humour as a defence mechanism and shared hilarious memes on the micro-blogging platform.
Some people also heavily criticised fake news mongers for spreading unnecessary rumours and speculation on the web about the twin World Cup-winning Indian captain.
He's a legend and should retire from International Cricket and #BCCI and #Ganguly should make sure he's in the technical staff because his presence in the dressing room matters a lot #DhoniRetires
— thorking 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@thorking14) October 29, 2019
It needs courage to be able to retire respectfully. Do called cool cricketer seldom have it in them #DhoniRetirement #dhoniretires people saying, but not going to happen. Too much money at stake.
— dost (@Jaaniojaani) October 29, 2019
After seeing #DhoniRetires trending, heart stopped pumping for a moment...
— Shubham Salunke 🇮🇳 (@shubhamksalunke) October 29, 2019
None official statements. I wonder why people do that!!
Seriously, Twitter needs to do something about it.
#DhoniRetires Nothing can be heartbreaking than this..will miss him n his humour in the team😭 End Of An Era @SDhawan25 @msdhoni @JohnCena @SGanguly99 pic.twitter.com/ONN7XiKLeh
— Rajesh (@Rajesh93651270) October 29, 2019
#DhoniRetires
— Mohit (@JIILCK85) October 29, 2019
Indian Cricket Team during DRS after dhoni retires..!! pic.twitter.com/YcsITzJr0p
A rumour that almost made us cry😢#DhoniRetires
— Bewakoof.com (@bewakoof) October 29, 2019
Stop trending #DhoniRetires , trend this #NeverRetireDhoni#MSDhoni #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/oi6GMqpVOl
— Ankur (@imAnkur30) October 28, 2019
@Kanatunga after watching #DhoniRetires trending pic.twitter.com/D7Mcl2h7D9
— pandurang escobar (@Bhavessshh) October 28, 2019
Cricket fans after Dhoni announced his retirement. #Dhoniretires 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/uwYor3c76B
— A. M. I. T (@imamit92) October 28, 2019
For all of those people who are spreading this rumour. Please stop this. There is no official confirmation from any resources.
— Shubham Verma (@vshubhamv488) October 29, 2019
Right now @msdhoni to all the haters who had spread this nonsense.#DhoniRetires pic.twitter.com/yoJAmdq6xb
From the 38-year old’s popular quotes to clippings and pictures of his iconic shots, almost every bit of Dhoni memorabilia was on display as a tweet.
The rumour-mill about Dhoni’s retirement began churning earlier in September after the current captain of India’s men’s cricket team Virat Kohli posted a photo-tweet.
A game I can never forget. Special night. This man, made me run like in a fitness test 😄 @msdhoni 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/pzkr5zn4pG
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) September 12, 2019
The post evoked 23,500 re-tweets and 209,400 likes on Twitter.
This Memorable Pics Whole India Never Forget.
— Kangkan Sarma (@imKangkanSarma) September 12, 2019
#MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/pbWqOFaOSs
Dhoni’s last international appearance for the Indian team was during the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, UK.
Since then, the cricketer has been in sabbatical mode, skipping the bilateral series with the West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh lately.
Recently, the newly appointed president of The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said Dhoni is one of the greatest in the game and should be duly respected regardless of what he decides regarding his career.
"It depends on him.I don't know what's on his mind or what he thinks about his career. But we will deal with that. India is very proud of MS Dhoni. Over the period of time, his achievements.. when you sit down and take note of what he has done... you say 'wow',” Ganguly was quoted as saying in a press conference.
