‘No sir, he’ll spoil the team’: When MS Dhoni refused to take an ‘outstanding player’ in CSK
Srinivasan who is the head of India Cements, which owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK), said MS Dhoni had told him that particular player will ‘spoil the team.’
Former BCCI president N Srinivasan recalled how MS Dhoni once refused to take “one outstanding player” in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team’s cohesion.
Srinivasan who is the head of India Cements, which owns IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, said Dhoni had told him that particular player will ‘spoil the team.’
“There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: ‘no sir, he will spoil the team’. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time,” Srinivasan said at the webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management according to ESPNcricinfo.
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“In India, we’re just starting and we’re new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels.”
Srinivasan, who shares a close bond with Dhoni, also spoke about how the former India captain’s instinct and judgement contributed to CSK’s success at a time when a lot of emphasis is placed on data.
“We’re awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they’re going to come against and they see how he got out, what’s his strength, what’s his weakness etc.
“So, MS Dhoni doesn’t attend this, he’s a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he’ll get up and go.
“In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that’s his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It’s a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct),” Srinivasan said.
Dhoni is one of the most successful captains of the IPL having won three titles for CSK. The wicket-keeper batsman has led CSK in all 10 seasons the franchise has been a part of the league. They did not participate in IPL 2016 and 2017 because of an SC-imposed ban.
Dhoni is supposed to return to cricket as the leader of CSK in IPL 2020, which is now slated to take place in September this year. Dhoni’s last competitive cricket match was the World Cup 2019 semi-final against New Zealand which India lost.
