Ever since MS Dhoni joined Chennai Super Kings in 2008, he became a homeboy. Unlike many other cricketers, Dhoni didn’t have any home side and had to enter the auctions. He joined CSK at a record price of USD 1.5 million. However, CSK wouldn’t have been able to get Dhoni had they gone for an icon player before the auction.

The likes of Yuvraj Singh (Kings XI Punjab), Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata Knight Riders) and a few others received extra money from their respective franchises by the virtue of being the icon players.

Chennai roped MS Dhoni for USD 1.5 million

However, MS Dhoni was without a home franchise. In a recent chat with Gaurav Kapur on 22 Yarnspodcast, former COO of IPL Sundar Raman revealed how CSK were able to buy Dhoni at a ‘record’ price.

“The only thing sure about the 2008 IPL was that the marquee players had to be assigned to their respective franchises. Sachin Tendulkar for Mumbai, Virender Sehwag for Delhi, Yuvraj Singh for Punjab, Sourav Ganguly for Kolkata. But MS Dhoni, who was at the peak of his stardom, was without a home,” Raman said.

“So what did he do? He made Chennai his home. At the time, the icon player was not fixed a salary and would be paid 15% more than the highest-paid player on the team. Since CSK didn’t have an icon player, they were a bit more free to bid for the player of their choice. So the Indian T20 captain went to Chennai because there was no surcharge or GST, so to speak,” he added.

Since then, the rest is history. MS Dhoni took Chennai Super Kings to the pinnacle of success winning the title three times. So far, they have reached the playoffs in all the seasons they have participated. They are second in the list of most titles won after Mumbai Indians who have four titles to their name.