MS Dhoni retires at 19.29 hrs, Twitterati speculate over the timing

After captaining the Indian cricket team to two World Cup victories and scoring over 17,200 runs across all formats, legendary wicket-keeper batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced that he was retiring from international cricket.

In an Instagram post, the Ranchi boy put together a montage of his cricket journey - making records, smashing sixes, lifting trophies and getting runout in what was his last match for team India - accompanied with the caption said, “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me as retired”. The former captain cut out all the fanfare and bid adieu to international cricket in the way only Dhoni could.

Read: Dhoni retires from team India but will lead CSK in IPL

Cricket players wished ‘Captain Cool’ well in his future endeavours and Dhoni fans went through a range of emotions after the announcement. This shocking news led to speculation and theories, especially with regard to the day and timing of the post.

While it may be a coincidence that Dhoni retired at 19.29 as India marked it 74th Independence Day, fans began their own theories and began speculating the ‘mystery’ behind the cricketer’s decision.

Here are a few that have taken the internet by storm:

Dhoni’s jersey number bears the numeral ‘7’ and his teammate Raina wears a jersey sporting number ‘3’. Suresh Raina has followed Dhoni in his retirement from international cricket decision. Fans put these two jersey numbers together, which forms 73 - the same number of years India has been an independent nation.

#DhoniRetired #RainaRetirement आंकड़ों का खेल देखिए । कल भारत ने स्वतंत्रता के 73 साल पूरे किए और इंटरनेशनल क्रिकेट से जर्सी नंबर 7 ( धोनी) और जर्सी नंबर 3 (रैना) रिटायर हो गए #धोनी_रैना @awasthis @nikhildubei pic.twitter.com/excpfkZdIi

— ANURAG (@anuragashk) August 16, 2020

Other fans believe that 19.29 was a significant time as it was the same time India lost the 2019 World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand, which was also Dhoni’s last international cricket match.

19:29 : India lost against NewZealand.
19.29 : MS Dhoni’s retirement timing. #ThankYouMahi #MSDhoni @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/DSY8qAj0xF

— MS Dhoni Fans Official (@msdfansofficial) August 15, 2020

Some attributed it to numerology, saying that 1929 is an angel number. The number is symbolic for having completed a major event or receiving closure to a particular chapter of life.

The final one - considering the unlucky turn of events in 2020, one Twitter user linked the Great Depression of 1929 to the time on Dhoni’s post.

@ap_pune Sir, Dhoni retiring at 19.29 ,🤔 is it indicating 1929 & The Great Depression is coming 😱(as many were expecting in Mar-Apr 2020) !?

— Expert on Everything Joshi (@SamyukthaJoshi) August 16, 2020

The real reason for the specific time is not known yet, and maybe it was just all a coincidence. Or is that too good to be true?