Retired India batsman Suresh Raina knew the former India captain MS Dhoni is going to quit international cricket when they reached Chennai. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star duo is in Chennai for a six-day IPL 2020 camp.

Raina told Dainik Jagran that they had already planned to retire on August 15 as India completed 73 years of independence. Both the cricketers shared their retirement news on social media. While Raina wrote a long heartfelt post, Dhoni made a video shared it on Instagram.

"We had already made up our minds to retire on Saturday (August 15). Dhoni's jersey number is 7 and mine is 3 - put it together and it makes 73. And on August 15, India completed 73 years of independence, so there couldn't have been a better day," Raina told Dainik Jagran.

"Dhoni began his career on 23 December 2004 against Bangladesh in Chittagong (now Chattogram), while I made my debut on 30 July 2005 against Sri Lanka in 2005. Both of us almost began together in international cricket, remained together at CSK, and so we now retired together and will continue to play in IPL together."

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Raina added that they hugged each other and cried after announcing the news to their fans and admirers.

"I knew Dhoni would announce his retirement upon reaching Chennai, so I was ready. I, Piyush Chawla, Deepak Chahar, and Karn Sharma reached Ranchi on 14th with the chartered plane, and picked up Mahi bhai and Monu Singh," said Raina.

"After announcing our retirement, we hugged and cried a lot. I, Piyush, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, and Karn sat together after that, talked about our careers and our relationship. We partied during the night."

The duo will appear together in the upcoming IPL 2020 which is set to begin on September 19 at UAE. 

(Quotes Inputs from Dainik Jagran)