Laxman shared two instances with MS Dhoni which he, in his own words, will "never, ever forget."
India's legendary former captain MS Dhoni announced his international retirement on Saturday. Dhoni, who remains the only skipper to have lifted all the three ICC trophies in limited-overs format, had already retired from Test cricket in 2014.
While tributes have been pouring in from all parts of the world for the Indian great, his former senior teammate VVS Laxman shared two interesting stories from Dhoni's time in the Indian dressing room.
Dhoni shared the dressing room with Laxman for a large part of his playing career in Test cricket.
Laxman revealed that Dhoni had animatedly announced that he would retire from Test cricket straight after slamming his maiden ton against Pakistan in 2006!
"Two instances of MS Dhoni that I will never, ever forget,” said Laxman on Star Sports’ Cricket Connected, "No. 1 was when he got his first Test hundred against Pakistan in Faisalabad.
"I still remember him coming back into the dressing room and loudly saying ‘I am going to announce my retirement – MS Dhoni, mai hundred maara Test cricket mein, bas yaar [I, MS Dhoni, have hit a century in Test cricket…that’s it!]. I don’t want anything more from Test cricket!’ And we were shocked and surprised to hear that. But that’s what MS Dhoni always was."
The second instance he shared was from the 2008 series between India and Australia.
“The second time was in a Test match against Australia in Nagpur,” Laxman said.
"He was the captain of the Indian team because Anil [Kumble] announced his retirement two matches before in Delhi. And MS Dhoni asked the team bus driver to just go and sit behind, and he drove the team bus from the ground to the hotel in Nagpur, and we were all awestruck. The captain of the Indian team, driving the team bus!
“That’s how he used to enjoy his life. For him, being a cricketer was doing everything on the cricket field, but outside the field, everything was normal."
Laxman called time on his international career in 2012, two years before Dhoni announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.
