N Srinivasan, former BCCI president revealed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not want to take one outstanding player in his IPL team as that could have spoiled the team. Srivasan, the head of India Cements that owns Chennai Super Kings told at a webinar, “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.” He added, “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.”
Chennai Super Kings’ immense success in the league is a lot because of the able captaincy of of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. No wonder even Srinivasan agreed to the same and shared how the former India captain’s instinct and judgement contributed to it. “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.”
Mahendra Singh Dhoni goes by his instinct for judgement on the field. Srinivasan said, “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).”
Chennai Super Kings did not take part in IPL 2016 and 2017 followed by a ban. But when they returned, they once again appointed Dhoni as their skipper. Dhoni who has been out of professional cricket since last year World Cup 2019 exit of Indian cricket team is set to make comeback through IPL 2020. The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League which has been postponed in the wake of the pandemic is going to be played in UAE from September 19. Dhoni will be seen donning CSK jersey again and leading the side with absolute brilliance. One of the most successful captains of IPL will be eager to make a mark in his comeback tournament.