How CSK Captain MS Dhoni’s Clever Auction Strategy Landed Him a $1.5 Million IPL Deal in 2008
The Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni was already a well-known figure when the first-ever Indian Premier League auction took place in February 2008. He had played only 10 T20 International matches by then, but he had led India to win the T20 World Cup the year before.
Dhoni was a strong and aggressive batter who had shown he could lead well in the shortest format of the game. Everyone knew he was an important player. But interestingly, he wasn’t included in a list of special players called “icon players” before the auction. This list had names like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh.
N Srinivasan, who was in charge of Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and had been the head of the ICC (an international cricket organization), used a smart plan to get Dhoni for his team. Even though Mumbai Indians also wanted Dhoni, Srinivasan’s strategy worked, and Dhoni became part of Chennai Super Kings.
Here’s How CSK Captain MS Dhoni Was Strategically Sold For $1.5 million In IPL 2008 Auction
If you don’t know, let me tell you about the first season of the IPL. They brought in some special players called “icon players.” These were the big stars of Indian cricket who could play for the team based in their own city. And guess what, they got paid 15% more than the highest-paid player in the team during the auction. Each team had a limit of $5 million to pick their players (at least 16 players).
Here’s an interesting thing: these icon players could only join their own city’s team if all eight teams agreed. Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, and Yuvraj were the first four icon players picked by the IPL people. But later, because Delhi’s team really wanted him, Sehwag was added to the list.
Dhoni was not an icon player, so he was up for auction along with others. Srinivasan, who was in charge of one team, had decided not to have an icon player. He really wanted Dhoni on his team, so he was ready to spend a lot of money on him. Dhoni’s starting price was $400,000, but the number quickly went higher and reached $900,000. At this point, only Mumbai and Chennai were still bidding to get Dhoni.
When the price reached $1.5 million, the Mumbai team realized that with Tendulkar as their icon player, they couldn’t spend so much money on just a few players and stay within the budget.
“When it came to USD 1.5 million, I think they realised they would have to pay Sachin [Tendulkar] USD 1.65 million and [MS] Dhoni USD 1.5 million, five million was the purse and 60% of the purse would go on these two players. So, they stopped and that’s how we got Dhoni because I said ‘I don’t want an icon’,” remarked Srinivasan in an interaction with PTI in August 2020.
MS Dhoni Season Wise IPL Salary
Dhoni got $1.5 million (that’s about 6 crore rupees) for the first three IPL seasons. After a big auction in 2011, the people in charge of Super Kings gave him more money – 8.28 crore rupees – and that stayed the same for three more seasons. In 2014, the BCCI (which is like the boss of cricket in India) said that first-choice players can get 12.5 crore rupees to stay with their teams. That’s how much Dhoni got until the end of 2017, even when he played for the Rising Pune Supergiants for two years.
Before the 2018 IPL, the CSK captain got more money. He was going to get 15 crore rupees to stay with the team. Then, before the big IPL auction in 2022, they kept him as a second-choice player and gave him 12 crore rupees.
2008 Chennai Super Kings INR 6 crore
2009 Chennai Super Kings INR 6 crore
2010 Chennai Super Kings INR 6 crore
2011 Chennai Super Kings INR 8.28 crore
2012 Chennai Super Kings INR 8.28 crore
2013 Chennai Super Kings INR 8.28 crore
2014 Chennai Super Kings INR 12.5 crore
2015 Chennai Super Kings INR 12.5 crore
2016 Rising Pune Supergiants INR 12.5 crore
2017 Rising Pune Supergiants INR 12.5 crore
2018 Chennai Super Kings INR 15 crore
2019 Chennai Super Kings INR 15 crore
2020 Chennai Super Kings INR 15 crore
2021 Chennai Super Kings INR 15 crore
2022 Chennai Super Kings INR 12 crore
2023 Chennai Super Kings INR 12 crore
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