Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his views on the emotional bond between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and MS Dhoni. Dhoni has been with the CSK franchise from 2008 to 2015 and then from 2018 onwards. Dhoni won five IPL titles as CSK captain and a couple of CLT20 titles as well.
Despite not making a single appearance throughout the 2026 Indian Premier League, Dhoni continued to dominate headlines and be the talk of the town. When he was seen at Chepauk for the first time this season on a CSK matchday, that enthusiasm reached a fever pitch. However, reports later revealed that he had been sidelined once more due to an injury setback.
Dhoni has missed all of the games for CSK thanks to a calf injury that he reaggravated, and then hurt his thumb.
While the CSK fans went crazy seeing MS Dhoni on the ground for the first time, Sanjay Manjrekar admitted he has completely lost interest in the whole saga.
“To be very honest, I've exhausted myself so much talking about another icon. I've got nothing left to say about Dhoni. And if you want a very short and brutally honest answer, it doesn't matter. Whether he plays, whether he doesn't play, and all that—yeah, CSK has handled that situation very differently, and something that I've lost interest in,” Manjrekar stated on Sportstar.
When questioned further about whether Dhoni will play in CSK's season-ending match, Manjrekar acknowledged that he no longer gives a damn because, in his opinion, the best Dhoni will always be the one wearing India's colors.
He was always complimenting Dhoni's leadership and even asserted that this CSK team would have advanced to the playoffs if Dhoni had been at his best.
“I mean, what he's done for India is something that I'll take to bed every time. He is one of my favorite captains and one of the all-time greats. Just love Dhoni for what he did. The current version is obviously a shadow of himself, and this CSK just handled that Dhoni phenomenon very poorly, resulting in the whole team just messing up. So, whether Dhoni plays one last game or not, it's something for his fans and everyone to enjoy, but I just take the Dhoni I saw at the India level and at CSK as well. Even this team that we see, the CSK team, if Dhoni in his prime were leading this team, this team would have been in the playoffs,” he added.
Manjrekar concluded by saying that, in a season where Chennai blew hot and cold, their harshest lesson was probably the mishandling of the Dhoni saga. He stated that the franchise needed to move away from getting emotionally attached to its players and instead focus on current performances, results, and team balance.
“CSK has learned one harsh lesson—don't get too emotional about your players. Be emotional about the reality, the performances, your current standing, and the points table. Be focused on that. If you're going to focus on Dhoni and try to fit him in, how is he going to contribute? You can see it's been getting more and more difficult every year. He's aging. He doesn't play any other cricket apart from this. He might do exactly what he did in the last couple of seasons. He's not going to come in till late in the innings. He will bat lower down the order and maybe play in the final over. And that, I think, is more because the man is phenomenal rather than it being the best way to win a game,” he said.
(Sportstar inputs)
