Former BCCI President and the current owner of Chennai Super Kings, N Srinivasan has showered praise on MS Dhoni for his remarkable contribution to the success of his IPL team.
Over the year, Dhoni has been a vital cog of the Chennai-based franchise in the Indian Premier League.
Under Dhoni’s leadership, CSK have won three IPL titles (in 2010, 2011, and 2018) and the franchise has qualified for the playoffs ten times in eleven seasons.
Recalling the intriguing journey of the Yellow Army in the world-renowned T20 tournament, Srinivasan revealed that he wrote a letter to then BCCI president Sharad Pawar in order to bid for an IPL team from Chennai.
Srinivasan also asserted that both former India skipper, Dhoni, and Chennai Super Kings fell in love with each other before everything else became history.
Speaking to India Today, “There are two-three points, the first is, we must recognize that Chennai was one of the 5 original Test centers in India. So, when IPL was launched I said Chennai must have a team.
“India Cements wrote to then-president Sharad Pawar Sir and asked ‘can we bid?’ I have been writing the letter although I was a treasurer myself.”
“Then MS Dhoni came, he fell in love with CSK and Chennai fell in love with him and the rest is history. Players were happy to play for CSK. Lots of Indian cricketers, overseas cricketers, see the world is small, they said this is the franchise to play,” the 76-year-old concluded.