Legendary player MS Dhoni’s participation in IPL 2025 was a matter of doubt, but the franchise’s CEO, Kasi Viswanathan, also shared his thoughts on this. Notably, MS Dhoni has also led the site to five IPL titles so far.
In a recent discussion, former CSK star, Ambati Rayudu, spoke during an in-person conversation with the CEO of the franchise, Kasi Viswanathan, who said, “As always, you (Rayudu) know better than me about the culture at CSK in the sense that we have always tried to have the core of the team. Initially, we had conversations with both Ruturaj the captain and also MS along with Fleming before we decided on the retentions. And, we were very clear that the players would help the team to grow, (those) who had stabilized the team in the previous years. It was very easy to decide on the retentions. Ruturaj, Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) who has had a great impact on CSK, and MS you don’t have to talk about, and Shivam Dube which we had groomed and MS had groomed,” shared Viswanathan as a part of a discussion on Provoke TV.
“So, we thought we should stick with them. As all of us know, Pathirana is going to be a bowler who is going to be really useful for any team he goes (to), so we thought he’ll be another one whom we can retain,” he further added.
ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill
However, Rayudu further re-directed a question about MS Dhoni, which was mainly with respect to his future at CSK as well.
“As far as Mahi bhai (brother) is concerned, you know he keeps everything to himself. It comes out at the last moment only. Knowing the passion he has for CSK, and also knowing the following he has, and he also mentioned in one of the interviews that he’ll play his last game in Chennai, we’re hoping that he will continue as far as CSK is concerned. As long as MS wants to play, the doors are open. Knowing him, his commitment, and his dedication, I’m sure he’ll always take the right decision,” added Viswanathan.
Ambati Rayudu also asked about the potential of a women’s franchise of CSK being introduced into the Women’s Premier League in the near-future.
“Maybe when the BCCI decides to expand the women’s competition, maybe we can look at it. Last time, we could not, at that point of time, go in for the women’s IPL because we had already committed to South Africa (Joburg Super Kings in the SA20), so we thought we’ll wait,” noted Viswanathan.
However, Viswanathan also spoke on the juncture in which the think tank looked towards MS Dhoni as their prime target, and also shared that the management instantly knew that their pick was worth it after having Dhoni for some years.
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
“See, when the IPL was floated in 2008, initially, Mr. Srinivasan (N. Srinivasan – owner of CSK and Managing Director of India Cements Limited), the other senior management team in India Cements were not great followers of T20, they were great followers of Test cricket. After deciding that he would bid for a team, the position was like, you know, every other team wanted an icon player,” he added again.
“Mumbai (MI) had Sachin (Sachin Tendulkar), Bangalore (RCB) had Rahul (Rahul Dravid), VVS (VVS Laxman) for Hyderabad (DC), Yuvraj (Yuvraj with Punjab), Sourav (Sourav Ganguly) with Kolkata (KKR). Having seen MS earlier, we felt that he will be a better bet than any of the other players. In fact, Mr. Srinivasan was also of the opinion that we should go for MS Dhoni. After taking MS and working with him, we knew we had taken the right decision of having MS on board,” he concluded.
