MAHENDRA Singh Dhoni is the all powerful captain of Indian cricket team.
He wields unheard of power and has total control over all matters cricketing, particularly related to the team.
In some ways he has displaced the greatest of them all Sachin Tendulkar as the prima donna of Indian cricket in recent times.
But when it comes to the Indian Premier League, or more specifically to the cause of Chennai Super Kings, he is almost a secondary player.
At least former India captain and IPL governing council member Sunil Gavaskar seems to think so.
In an attempt to build consensus and know the views of the men who matter – the cricketers, Gavaskar sought their views on IPL 2011. But in the process Gavaskar left out the man who is the captain of the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings.
Gavaskar, like everyone else, knows that in Chennai Super Kings, the man who really matters is also his colleague on the IPL governing council, N Srinivasan.
The India Cements owner wields unheard of power in the Board being the secretary and franchise owner of an IPL team. So he wears more than one hat at a time.
Gavaskar must have already conveyed his thoughts to Srinivasan because it is he who will make the decision, implement it and accept it too.
Dhoni’s views does not really matter because he will have no option but to go with the flow because of Srinivasan’s position. The other captains will have a greater chance of expressing their views on the next edition of IPL.
Team owners depend on their captains to give them cricket perspective. Dhoni also has the option of telling his mind to Srinivasan and does not really have to be contacted under the normal procedure.
It is indeed an unique situation in Indian cricket where another powerful administrator has grown in stature in a very quiet way.
In Gavaskar, Dhoni and Srinivasan’s defence though, there could be an explanation on why the Indian skipper wa not in kept the loop.
The email written by Gavaskar is dated 5 July and it is reasonable to suggest that Dhoni was not contacted because he was busy at the time with his marriage ceremonies.
That probably is the only explanation possible for an otherwise glaring miss by the most astute thinker of the game in India.
