In 2008, the maiden IPL auction happened. The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) acquired famed player MS Dhoni for $1.5 million.
Dhoni ranked highly on the Marquee Players list. He followed Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, and Virender Sehwag. They all played as icons for their hometowns.
The 42-year-old sparked a bidding battle between CSK and the Mumbai Indians (MI), with the former eventually emerging triumphant. However, no one could have expected that MS Dhoni and CSK would become as closely associated as Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. For some, perhaps even beyond.
After guiding India to the T20 World Cup victory in its debut edition in 2007, Dhoni almost repeated the feat with CSK in the inaugural IPL season in 2008. The team advanced to the final but lost on the last ball against the Rajasthan Royals.
However, since then, CSK has won the most IPL titles, tied with MI, with five.
MS Dhoni is also the most successful skipper in the IPL, with 133 victories in 226 games and leading the Super Kings to the playoffs every season from 2008 to 2015. After spending a few seasons with the Rising Pune SuperGiants in 2016 and 2017, while CSK was defunct, the champion cricketer returned to the club, guiding them to championships in 2018, 2021, and 2023.
Dhoni ranks seventh in IPL history for scoring the most runs, tallying up 5,082. His average is 38.79 and he hits at a rate of 135.91.
MS Dhoni was recently named the captain of IPL’s greatest all-time team
With the 2024 season approaching, a panel of specialists, including previous superstars Wasim Akram, Dale Steyn, Matthew Hayden, and Tom Moody, together with 70 other journalists, chose a 15-member all-time best IPL lineup.
MS Dhoni got picked as leader because he did awesome with CSK over time. In the squad, we find famous IPL stars like Kohli and Gayle, along with Bumrah, Pandya, and Warner, all top-rated cricketers.
While Rohit Sharma was the only other captain vying for the position, the Australian combo of Moody and Hayden were confident in Dhoni’s ability to guide even ordinary sides to victory.
Again, Dhoni gears up to steer CSK in the IPL’s 17th round, predicting a late March start.
