For Dhoni, IPL is just a job

Mahendra Singh Dhoni makes no bones about the fact that he has a soft corner for everything associated with the armed forces. And that is the reason why his kit bag and wicket-keeping gloves have the military print on it. But if one digs deep, there is more to him that is like the men in uniform then just his fascination for the print. Just like the majors and colonels, he too has this obsession with meeting targets and that is very much on display in the way he leads his team – the Chennai Super Kings.

Even as the general notion is that the Indian Premier League is a platform to promote young and upcoming talent, Dhoni has made it clear that he has no time to groom youngsters and would rather focus on the job in hand – to win the cash-rich league. And that is the very reason why CSK is undoubtedly one of the most successful teams in the tournament’s history – winning 78 of the 129 matches they have played in the last eight seasons (before this year’s play-offs).

It is no secret that no sportsperson likes to end up on the losing side, but with Dhoni, he believes in doing the same thing with conviction and that is why he is indeed one of the most successful captains that world cricket has seen in recent times. And so, when asked why he rarely changes his team; and even when he does; he only tries out tested players rather than giving youngsters a challenge; Dhoni was blunt, rather than diplomatic.

We have made it quite simple. We want to adapt, we want to improve. A lot of teams emphasise on bringing in youngsters and making them good players. We have not emphasised on that. But you could say we have had international cricketers and have made good captains out of them. To be honest, we have quite a few of them in our ranks,” he countered. On the positive side, the move has seen CSK qualify for the playoffs in almost all the editions of the IPL – except in 2009.

But on the other hand, it has also seen players like George Bailey, Wriddhiman Saha and Parthiv Patel among others leaving the franchise and plying their trade for other teams. Not that it has deterred Dhoni much and it was again evident in their last group game against Kings XI Punjab. With Brendon McCullum leaving for national duty post that game, the opportunity was ripe for Dhoni and the management to promote Suresh Raina to the top – the batsman has time and again shown interest in batting in the top three in the T20 format – and giving young Baba Aparajith a go. The Tamil Nadu player has been a part of the CSK camp for years now and has hardly played a game here and there.

But Dhoni begged to differ, he feels that interacting with the top-class international players is lesson enough and the team is playing the IPL to win and there is no two ways about it. “I think that sharing the dressing room with such experienced campaigners is a learning experience in itself. Against KXIP, we took it as a game we had to win,” he said. On the other side, there are also captains, like RCB skipper Virat Kohli who has been very vocal about testing talented youngsters on the big stage.

And the same goes for Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma. While Kohli has backed Yuzvendra Chahal and Mandeep Singh to the hilt, Rohit has backed the likes of Jagadeesha Suchith and Hardik Pandya.