Mumbai: When Jadeja was dropped from the test squad, he swallowed his pride and put up a brave front. He remained unflustered when he was snubbed by the selectors ahead of ODI and T20 series against South Africa.
Jadeja announcing his retirement
But when Chintu, his society’s cricket team captain, dropped him from the playing eleven, he couldn’t take it anymore and announced his retirement in a Facebook post that read, “I hereby announce my retirement from all formats of the game with immediate effect.”
Facebook immediately flashed a message – ‘End of an era’ on its homepage, Google paid tribute to the master with a doodle, whereas Twitter decided to shut down its services for a day as a mark of respect.
Though he would have loved to make that announcement in front of a capacity crowd chanting, “Raviiindraaa…Ra-vindra,” but since the chances of him entering a packed stadium again did not look that promising, the only way he could have addressed a live audience was by screaming, “I am retiring,” inside a shopping mall. But then he would have been mistaken as an aggrieved security guard who had lost his sanity due to work pressure.
And announcing his retirement at the end of a Ranji Trophy match would have only strengthened the notion about his sanity, as those 15 people who watch a Ranji Trophy match couldn’t have paid attention to his speech as they are required to cover the pitch as soon as the match is over, and he would have come back home after delivering his soliloquy to the sky, trees, and a few apathetic crows.
Speaking to faking news, the legend said, “I feel it’s time to move on. I wasn’t able to spend time with my friends and family members. That’s why I decided to retire and focus on more meaningful aspects of life.”
However, sources close to him told us that after CSK was suspended and Dhoni started losing his grip on the team, he realized there was no point in slogging in the domestic circuit for the next 10 years and ending up running after the ball for no apparent reason.
But he has achieved everything a cricketer can dream of. He shared dressing rooms with the legends of the game, he sledged the likes of Anderson (and when language became a hindrance, he decided to fight with Raina instead), and he was auctioned for millions.
A few eyebrows were raised when CSK dished out 2 million USD, hitherto highest by any franchise, to buy him during 2012 IPL auction, but he proved his critics wrong. He may not have answered them with the bat or ball, but his iconic CSK haircut was a slap on the faces of those who assumed that the decision to raise the paddle at $2 million by Srinivasan was carried out under the influence of alcohol.
The carefully carved ‘CSK’ on his hair, much like how auto drivers paint – ‘hypothecated to SBI’ on the rear of the vehicles after they purchase them with SBI auto finance, created more brand awareness during 2012 IPL season than all the marketing efforts put together.
His mere presence on the cricket field sent chills down the spines of his oppositions as they could never predict whether he would play as a bowler who doesn’t bat or a batsman who doesn’t bowl, or would just stand at short cover making faces at the batsmen.
He remained a mystery on the cricket field, just like that gully cricketer who is part of every match but whose primary job is to retrieve the ball from the neighbor’s house.
And just when everyone thought Dhoni would recommend his name for Bharat Ratna, he was dropped from all formats of the game without any prior notice. However, there are unconfirmed reports that once the news of his retirement broke out, cricket fans across the nation started contributing one rupee each to buy a Made in China replica of Bharat Ratna and present it to the champion cricketer for his contribution to Indian cricket.
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