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IPL: Not MS Dhoni, N Srinivasan wanted to build CSK franchise around this Indian legend

Sensational revelation!

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) mutual love is known to all. With its return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a two-year ban, CSK had no hesitation in retaining Mahi for the upcoming seasons.

Dhoni too had said recently that he cannot imagine playing for any team other than CSK.

What if we tell you then that MSD and CSK's union was in serious jeopardy back in 2008 when the IPL was about to embark upon its first season?

Yes, that's right. Former Indian cricketer VB Chandrasekhar, who was CSK's chief selector in 2008 as well as director of cricket operations, has revealed to Sportskeeda that former BCCI president and CSK's co-owner N Srinivasan was not too keen on drafting in Dhoni initially. He was, in fact, interested in signing Virender Sehwag.

 

“Before the auctions in 2008, Mr N Srinivasan asked me, 'Who are you going to pick?' I said Dhoni. He asked, 'Why not Virender Sehwag'?"

Chandrasekhar further said: "I said Sehwag would not provide me with the kind of inspiration that the crowd will be looking forward to, whereas Dhoni is a captain, a wicket-keeper and a batsman who can change the match situation on his own. So I asked him if I could look for him.”

Chandrasekhar revealed that Srinivasan said he would rather have Sehwag, but later agreed to get Dhoni on board.

 

CSK had initially kept aside a budget of 1.1 million out of the total purse of 5 million for Dhoni. But the Chennai outfit learnt that another team was willing to pay 1.3 million for the star keeper-bat.

“So I increased my amount to 1.4 million and still tried to buy the team because, with a total of 5 million for the entire team, 1.4 million would have gone for Dhoni himself,” said Chandrasekhar.

 

“But with the auction approaching, someone said that Dhoni would go for 1.8 million. So I told him that if Dhoni would go for anything beyond 1.5 million, I'd let him go because I couldn't let go a team, as then there would have been Dhoni and nobody else. Mr Srinivasan was upset that we couldn't get Dhoni because somewhere he believed that Dhoni was the future and I had convinced him that he was going to be the future youth icon,” Chandrasekhar further said.

Dhoni was eventually purchased for 1.5 million and the rest is history. 'Chennai's adopted son' went on to guide his team to two IPL titles and established himself as one of the tournaments greats.

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