Dhoni Opens Up About Opting Out as Marquee Player for IPL 2008
Chennai Super Kings, on Tuesday (February 20), celebrated 16 years of association between themselves and their legendary captain MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League. Barring two seasons when the Chennai-based outfit was suspended, the former India skipper has only played 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 relinquished the captaincy in 2022 but took charge of the team once again after Ravindra Jadeja failed to deliver as captain.
Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni, CSK has been one of the most dominant and consistent teams in the IPL. They have won a record five IPL titles in addition to finishing as runners-up five times. They have failed to make the playoffs only twice so far. Apart from 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.
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 followed his intuition. In a recent interview with Star Sports, the former Indian captain revealed how he signed up for the Chennai-based franchise.
The wicketkeeper-batsman revealed that he is getting a $1 million offer from the franchise to sign him as the marquee player. However, he decided against it and entered 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 the five marquee players were announced, I was also approached to be the marquee player of a particular franchise. I had to make a quick decision. I thought if I was the captain of the 2007 T20 World Cup winning team, I would easily go for 1 million dollars.
He could've made $1 million as a marquee player!
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) February 20, 2024
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
“So let's take a risk. Let's enter the auction. If two of the three teams that don't have marquee players, along with other franchises, take interest in me, this will increase the chances of your price going up, MS Dhoni told the media. “If you become a marquee player, the franchise owner thinks that if I buy a player for a certain amount, I have to pay the marquee player 10 or 15 per cent more.
“So I thought it's better for me, at this point, to enter the auction - if any franchise without a marquee player buys me, I have more chances to get more money. And when the auction happened, when CSK bought me, I went for 1.5 million dollars (approx. 6 crores). So the thinking was working at that time," he added.