Lata Mangeshkar bats for MS Dhoni

Mumbai: Lata Mangeshkar on Thursday urged Mahendra Singh Dhoni to not think about retiring anytime soon as the country still needs a cricketer like him.

Tournament favourites men in blue crashed out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 after losing to New Zealand in the semi-final on Wednesday by 18 runs.

The legendary singer, 89, who is an avid cricket follower, took to Twitter to support Dhoni, whose future is the subject of swirling speculation after what is being considered his last assignment in national colours.

“Namaskar M S Dhoni ji. I am hearing that you want to retire. Please don’t think like that. The country needs your game and it is my request as well that you should not entertain any thought of retirement,” Mangeshkar tweeted in Hindi.

(Namaskar M S Dhoni ji. Aaj kal main sun rahi hun ke Aap retire hona chahte hain. Kripaya aap aisa mat sochiye. Desh ko aap ke khel ki zaroorat hai aur ye meri bhi request hai ki Retirement ka vichar bhi aap mann mein mat laayiye. @msdhoni.)

Dhoni (50) and Ravindra Jadeja (77) added 116 runs for the seventh wicket partnership in the nail-biting match but fell short of reaching the target of 240 runs.