Owner Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and captain M S Dhoni of Rising Pune Supergiants team unveiling the official team jersey for IPL Season 9 in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is set to turn a new page in the Indian Premier League when he dons the purple and orange jersey of the Rising Pune Supergiants in Season Nine, but his heart still beats for Chennai Super Kings.
Dhoni has long been CSK’s general and it is hard to imagine him without the yellow jersey in which he lifted the trophy twice and finished second on four occasions. Mired in spot-fixing and betting, Chennai and Rajasthan Royals were banned for two years thus opening the window for teams from Pune and Rajkot.
Dhoni is finding it difficult to “make the shift”.
“I will be lying if I say that I have moved on,” said Dhoni as Pune Supergiants unveiled their jersey here on Monday. “I cannot suddenly say that I am very excited to play for a new team and it will be wrong if I don’t give credit to CSK and the people of Chennai for the last eight years of love and affection that they have given to the team and me.
“I have the emotional connect but at the same time we need to have a professional connect. There will be added responsibility for me at Pune.
“And as a professional, that’s what we are expected to do, be it IPL or international cricket. Most of the guys will be playing the T20 World Cup followed by the IPL, so it should be an exciting season.”
‘Can’t mix pay with performance’ The IPL auction earlier his month saw many surprises with young names like Pawan Negi, Nathu Singh and M. Ashwin attracting huge sums, while a few big ones Mahela Jayawardene, Cheteshwar Pujara and Michael Hussey among others, remained unsold.
Dhoni said there is “no direct relation between the player’s value in the auction and his game”.
“I have often heard people say that a young player has earned x amount of money and he has scored just 10 runs in the IPL. So he is earning Rs 1 lakh per run but that is not the case.
“What a player earns in an auction doesn’t really reflects his value or game, it is more about what a team needs. They fulfil a team’s requirement. If you have a set number of players and now you need a young leg-spinner, the bidding of that player will go high,” he explained.
‘All-rounders the way ahead’ Stressing the role of an all-rounder, Dhoni said having such players in the squad was always a plus. “An all-rounder gives you the option of playing an extra batsman or a bowler. We have picked three in the side and we have got cover for everyone.
“People, especially old-time cricketers, question that if seven batsmen cannot get the job done, how would the eighth one help But it is often the eighth batsman who contributes to the win. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spinning all-rounder or a seaming one, they are the way forward.”
Refusing to talk about the recent allegations on the 2004 Manchester Test against England being “fixed” or “the controversial situations leading to the termination of the Chennai franchise”, the 34-year-old said he “believed in living in the present”.
“The IPL has got its share of bad name, but we have to look at the positives that it has brought to Indian cricket. Every year, it gives us new talent who play 14 games in front of big crowds. We get to know how an individual handles pressure and it later translates to the international stage. This is how I view IPL,” he said.
