Dhoni said ‘people will think that because you’re my friend, I’ve picked you’

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings went into the IPL 2022 mega auction having retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali.

So for them for assemble a squad that could recapture their glory days was extremely important. By the end of two days of frantic bidding war, CSK were successfully able to put up a pool of players which had a touch of both old and new heading into a fresh season of the Indian Premier League.

CSK had introduced the likes of young Tushar Deshpande, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar and KS Asif to name a few and bought back the experience of Dwayne Bravo, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar and Ambati Rayudu, four players who have been at the centre of CSK’s success.

While Bravo, Rayudu and Chahar fetched a decent price tag of ₹4.4 crore, 6.75 crore and 14 crore respectively, Uthappa was like a steal as they purchased him for a base price of ₹2 crore. The veteran batter revealed his first conversation with Dhoni after he returned to represent CSK.

“MS called me after two days and said, ‘See you, bro’. He said ‘welcome to the team’. I said ‘thank you for having faith in me’. He said ‘I had nothing to do with this decision’. He said ‘I didn’t do anything because for two reasons. One is, for your own good. You should get into this side for your own credentials.

Two is if I have anything to do with this decision, people will always think because you are my friend, I have picked you in the side. So, I had nothing to do with this decision,” Uthappa told R Ashwin on his YouTube channel.

After spending seasons with Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals, Uthappa turned up for CSK in IPL 2021, where he played only four matches scoring 115 runs. This time around, when Uthappa returned to Chennai, Dhoni’s words gave him confidence and made him realise that he indeed belongs with the franchise.

“So when it came to me, I asked the support staff, coaching staff and the management. If they are fine with him, we are good to go. I don’t want anything to do with this decision. For me, it made me feel really good in the sense that from every angle, there was complete indemnity. And for him as well.

It gave me the confidence that the support staff had faith in me. For me, it was like ‘ok, now I can go there and do my own stuff’. And immediately I felt attached to the team,” he added.