Former Indian cricketer, MS Dhoni was at the peak of his career in 2008 after leading the national team to the T20 World Cup win in 2007. Every IPL franchise wanted the leader like him, but CSK bagged the service of the Ranchi-born star.
In the recent interaction, BCCI’s former president N Srinivasan has revealed how the yellow army was successful in buying Dhoni in IPL 2008 auction.
Every IPL franchise had its icon player like Kolkata Knight Riders had Sourav Ganguly, Delhi Daredevils had Virender Sehwag and Mumbai Indians had Sachin Tendulkar.
But CSK did not have an icon player like MS Dhoni did not have a home.
At the IPL 2008 auction, what turned out to CSK’s advantage was they did not have an icon player, and thus they could go for a free bid.
“It is a question of arithmetic, at that time Mr Bindra was there, Punjab wanted Yuvraj to play for them, delhi wanted (Virender) Sehwag to play for then, Mumbai could not imagine a team without Sachin Tendulkar, how could Sachin play for somebody else.
“Therefore all them said they wanted icons, they had to pay the icon 10 per cent than the highest paid player of the team in the auction.
“So when the bidding went on for Dhoni, I was clear at any price MS Dhoni,” he remarked.
CSK choose MS Dhoni above Sachin Tendulkar:
The former CSK owner said that they were eyeing on Sachin Tendulkar but snubbed the idea and zeroed in on the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning captain.
“When it came to USD 1.5 million, I think they realised they would have to pay Sachin USD 1.65 million and Dhoni USD 1.5 million, five million was the purse and sixty per cent of the purse would go on these two players.
“So they stopped and that’s how we got Dhoni because I said I don’t want an icon,” he said.
It was a choice CSK will be proud of as Dhoni helped the franchise clinch the IPL title thrice — 2010, 2011 and 2018.