Laxman quashes reports of Dhoni’s involvement in his retirement

Laxman quashes reports of Dhoni’s involvement in his retirement: Laxman was vocal about a long-standing controversy.

Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman has quashed all reports of former India captain and current wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s involvement in his retirement back in 2012.

The last time Laxman played for India was during the fourth Test of India’s dismal tour of Australia in 2011-12. With India’s next Test assignment happening after seven months, Laxman chose to hang his boots right before the home series against New Zealand.

In a decision which came abruptly, it invited a plethora of media reactions regarding a rift between Laxman and the then captain Dhoni. Perhaps, it was because Dhoni had been earlier openly vocal about his preference of picking youngsters over too many senior players in the playing eleven.

While there hadn’t been a comment from anyone out of Laxman or Dhoni for so many years, the former has clarified the same in his recently-released autobiography named ‘281 and Beyond’.

“After I informed the media of my decision to retire, the questions flowed. ‘Have you informed your teammates?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Have you spoken to Dhoni, what did he have to say?’ ‘Everyone knows how difficult it is to reach Dhoni,’ I joked. Little did I realise that this would trigger the first and only controversy of my cricketing career,” Laxman mentioned in his book.

“I had unwittingly provided fodder to the media, who started to speculate that I had retired in a huff because MS and I had differences, that there was a rift between us. It wasn’t funny at the time, but one of the headlines the following day read, ‘VVS, retired hurt’. I waited for the end of the Test and then went to the hotel to thank every teammate and member of the support staff individually.

“When I met MS, he took one look at me and burst out laughing. ‘Laxman bhai, you are not used to all these controversies, but I am. Don’t take this to heart. We all know that sometimes, facts need not come in the way of a good story.’ I was once again struck by his maturity, his simplicity, and how easily he had put me at ease,” Laxman added.

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