Dhoni’s future as a player is uncertain, but indications are that he will stay on with the franchise in some capacity
“Dhoni is part and parcel of CSK, Chennai and Tamil Nadu. There is no CSK without Dhoni and there is no Dhoni without CSK,” Srinivasan, a former BCCI and ICC boss and managing director as well as vice-chairman of India Cements, which owns the Super Kings franchise through a subsidiary, was quoted as saying by PTI on Monday.
Dhoni has been the Super Kings captain, and the face of the team and the franchise, since the inception of the IPL in 2008, and has led the team into the knockouts/playoffs every year except when the team was banned – 2016 and 2017 – and last season, when they finished seventh, winning four trophies in the process.
“It’s about making a strong core and making sure the franchise doesn’t really suffer, because it will be an auction where you have to make a team for the next ten years. Definitely in 2008, the core group carried on for more than ten years. We’ll have to have a hard look as to… in the next ten years, who are the people who will contribute in a similar manner.”
But, when discussing the legacy he would be leaving behind at Super Kings, assuming he was done as a player, Dhoni had responded, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, “But still, I haven’t left [it] behind!”