Chennai Super Kings, on Tuesday (February 20), celebrated 16 years of association between them and their legendary captain MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League. Barring the two seasons when the Chennai-based outfit was suspended, the former India skipper has played only for CSK in the IPL.
He has been plying his trade for the franchise since 2008 and has also been their captain since then. He briefly gave up captaincy in 2022 but took charge of the team once again after Ravindra Jadeja failed to deliver as a captain.
Under MS Dhoni’s captaincy, CSK have been one of the most dominant and consistent teams in the IPL. They have won a record five IPL titles in addition to finishing runners-up five times. They have failed to make it to the playoffs just twice so far. Apart from the success on the field, MS Dhoni has also developed a strong bond with the Chennai crowd and is one of the most popular cricketers in that part of the country.
One heart and it belongs to you! 💛#16YearsOfThala pic.twitter.com/1mllUqXUFL
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) February 20, 2024
MS Dhoni on signing for CSK:
While MS Dhoni has enjoyed a very successful journey with CSK so far, things could have been very different had he not backed his intuitions. In a recent interview with Star Sports, the former India captain revealed how he ended up signing up for the Chennai-based franchise.
The wicketkeeper-batsman revealed that he was receiving an offer of $1 million from a franchise to sign as a marquee player. However, he decided against it and registered his name for the auction at a base price of USD 400,000. CSK went all out for him in the auction and eventually bought him for $1.5 million.
“Initially when five marquee players were announced, I was also approached to become a marquee player of a certain franchise. I had to make a quick decision. I thought that I was the captain of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team, I would easily go for 1 million dollars.
“So let’s take a risk. Let’s enter the auction. If two out of three teams that don’t have marquee players get interested in me, along with the other franchises, this will increase the chances of your price going up,” MS Dhoni told Star Sports.
“If you become a marquee player, the franchise owner thinks that if I am buying a player for a certain amount, then I will have to pay 10 or 15 percent more to the marquee player.
“So I thought that for me, at this point in time, it’s better to enter the auction – if any franchise without a marquee player buys me, then I have more chances of getting more money. And when the auction happened, when CSK bought me, I went for 1.5 million dollars (6 crore approx). So the thinking worked at that point of time,” he added.
He could've made $1 million as a marquee player!
He entered the auction instead… and made #1.5 million! #JustThalaThings
Relive the story of how #MSDhoni ended up at #Chennai by making a shrewd move.
The rest is history!#IPLOnStar #Cricket pic.twitter.com/5quBLXUhZA
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 20, 2024
MS Dhoni would be aiming for another successful season with CSK in IPL 2024. CSK are the defending champions and would be looking to become the first-ever team to win the IPL six times.
