ICC World Cup 2019: Lata Mangeshkar urges MS Dhoni not to retire, fans trend #donotretiredhoni on Twitter

New Delhi, July 11: Veteran singer and Bharat Ratna awardee Lata Mangeshkar has urged former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni not to retire from international cricket.

Speculations were rife that India's last match in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales would also be MS Dhoni's last outing in India colours.

Dhoni, along with lower-order batsman Ravindra Jadeja, played yet another memorable knock after a rare top order collapse in an all-important semi-final at Old Trafford in Manchester.

The 89-year-old singer tweeted, "Namaskar MS 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" (I am hearing that you want to retire. Please don't think like that. The country needs you. I request you to not entertain thoughts of retirement.)."

Meanwhile, #donotretiredhoni also started trending on Twitter as fans started appealing the 38-year-old cricketer to not hang up his boots anytime soon.

Dhoni and Jadeja stitched a crucial 116-run partnership for the seventh wicket and kept the Men In Blue in the tricky run chase of 240 but luck slipped out of their hands in the dying moments of the innings as these two departed in quick succession. India eventually lost the match 18 runs to get knocked out of the contest.

During the post-match press conference Virat Kohli was asked about Dhoni's retirement and the Indian captain cleared that his predecessor hasn't told the team management about his decision.

"MS Dhoni has not told us anything about retirement," Kohli told reporters.

Dhoni scored 50 in the match against New Zealand and kept his team in the hunt in the run chase but he was dismissed in an unlucky fashion via direct hit from Martin Guptill.