He traded the trademark yellow for an office attire. In a homecoming of sorts, M.S. Dhoni spoke on varied topics — CSK, IPL and his bond with the city, ahead of the eleventh edition of the IPL — at an India Cements consumer event. Excerpts:
Was coming back to CSK the most logical choice?
A lot of people approached me, I can tell you that. I can’t think of not coming back to CSK. It’s because of everything. What we have been as a team, how we have conducted ourselves, how the management has been, how the players have been, how the fans have been... I always keep saying ‘it’s like a second home to me’. The fans over here have adopted me, they accept me like one of their own. There can’t be any bigger compliment than that.
What is CSK’s biggest strength?
Our biggest strength has been the fans. It’s not only TN and Chennai, it’s all over we have gone. As team CSK we have always got support, irrespective of where we have played. That area is covered.
As far as the composition of the team and everything is concerned, we had three retentions, thinking as to which three serve the purpose the best. We have retained a ’keeper and two batsmen and who can bowl left-arm and off-spin. So a lot of areas have been covered in the top-order. We don’t have to go for more left-handers, as a lot of areas is covered. That’s what T20 cricket is all about.
You said about keeping the emotions aside during auctions, your thoughts on CSK picking R. Ashwin?
We will definitely go for him in the auction. Ashwin being a local lad, we want a lot of local players in the side. We have to buy him out in the auction. We have two RTMs [right to match] but when and where we can use is the thing. We have somebody like a [Dwayne] Bravo, Faf [du Plessis] and Brendon McCullum.
What has been the impact on the brand?
The last two years we were not there, our fan-base actually got stronger because none of the players were involved in anything. Often when some mistake is done, people bear the brunt and The team had to bear the brunt for whatever happened. But the players were cleared of all the controversies.
With teams knowing that CSK prefers a core group of players and they might try to inflate the price. Do you think maybe going for another core group, keeping the future in mind, will help?
That’s the thing we will have to be watchful about. It’s always a strategy and as I said we need to have the right mix because there will be an auction next year as well. You can always supplement players. Whichever areas you feel slightly weak, you can buy and trade a few players to get stronger in those areas. But the core group remains to be strong and that’s what we will try to retain. But like you said, there may be inflation and so on. We need to keep emotions aside. If you back off one player that has had an inflated price, none of the franchises are going to take you on at that point again.
You haven’t captained in over a year. How big a challenge will it be for you to get back in that mode?
You know, I never captained any team before I became captain of the Indian cricket team (smiles). And the second thing is that a wicketkeeper is always a vice-captain, irrespective of whether he is a captain or not. He is somebody who is in a position from where he watches the game very closely. So he understand the angles, understands how the bowler is bowling, what is the pace of the wicket, how the batsman is batting and so on. So I don’t think it is a difficult job.
Despite controversies, you never tried to distance yourself from CSK or India Cements
As I said, I had no clue which franchise I would go for. From there till the last season we played, we became stronger as a team. When i mean team, I talk about the whole management. All those play a crucial factor. One of the thing is, cricket is not new for franchise owners. As a captain, it becomes easy. It becomes difficult when you have to explain everything. So when we lose, they already know the reasons why we lost because they understand the game. So there is less pressure on you.
