Mahendra Singh Dhoni, IPL Auction 2018, India Cements, RTMs, Chennai Super Kings,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni led CSK to two IPL titles. Photo Credit: IPL/BCCI.

It is pretty hard to imagine a Chennai Super Kings squad without their captain cool, MS Dhoni. The former India skipper has been a part of the Lions’ den since the very first season.

He has led the Super Kings to two IPL wins and never failed to reach the playoffs. The yellow brigade served a banned, related to the match-fixing scandal, but they are back on their feet now.

Former India cricketer VB Chandrashekhar went down the memory lane and narrated the story of how they managed to rope in Dhoni for their side in the 2008 IPL auction. He touched the conversation he had with the CSK owner N Srinivasan and how things unfolded from there on.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, IPL Auction 2018, India Cements, RTMs, Chennai Super Kings,
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was reappointed as the skipper for CSK after 2015. Photo Credit: IPL/BCCI.

Srinivasan Backed Sehwag

“Before the auctions in 2008, Mr N Srinivasan asked me, “Who are you going to pick?” I said Dhoni. He asked, “Why not Virender Sehwag?”

“I said Sehwag would not provide me with the kind of inspiration that the crowd will be looking forward to, whereas, Dhoni is a captain, a wicket-keeper and a batsman who can change the match situation on his own. So I asked him if I could look for him,” Chandrasekhar was quoted saying to Sportskeeda.

Go get Dhoni: Srinivasan

He said,

“I would rather have Sehwag.” But the next day morning, he came and said, “Go get Dhoni.”

I had kept an amount of 1.1 million for Dhoni with a total of 5 million to buy the team. However, someone in the auction had kept 1.3 million for him, so I had to reassess, as to what I should be doing and how I should buy him. I needed to have the money when he [the other bidder] came to the auction.

“So I increased my amount to 1.4 million and still tried to buy the team because, with a total of 5 million for the entire team, 1.4 million would have gone for Dhoni himself,” he added.

MS Dhoni CSK signs contract

Twist in the Tale

There was a late twist in the tale, and the management had to pen down a new strategy once again.

“But with the auction approaching, someone said that Dhoni would go for 1.8 million. So I told him that if Dhoni would go for anything beyond 1.5 million, I’d let him go because I couldn’t let go a team, as then there would have been Dhoni and nobody else.”

“Mr Srnivasan was upset that we couldn’t get Dhoni because somewhere he believed that Dhoni was the future and I had convinced him that he was going to be the future youth icon,” he further said.

CSK had retained Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja for this year’s IPL. The fans will once again get to see their skipper in action, wearing yellow.

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