Chennai Super Kings CEO Kashi Vishwanathan expressed his willingness to build a sports ecosystem beyond Men’s cricket at an event of the Tamil Nadu Global Tourism Summit in Mahabalipuram. Sharing the stage with Boria Majumdar, CSK CEO, emphasises their ecosystem and also shared plans on expanding their brand.
The conversation was also centred on CSK’s success and how Dhoni made an impact on their ecosystem. Mr Vishwanathan also confirmed that Dhoni will be in there for the yellow forever.
Talking about MS Dhoni, Mr Vishwanathan said, “We picked MSD in the auction in 2008 and must say he will forever stay our best investment. Most other teams had an icon player. Mumbai had Sachin, Kolkata Sourav, Bengaluru Rahul and so on. We did not, and we went for Dhoni, for VB Chandrasekhar had mentioned him to N Srinivasan, saying he would make a fantastic leader. How correct he was!”
CSK’s plans for the future
Over the years, Chennai Super Kings have expanded their ecosystem by investing in foreign leagues like MLC and SA20. They own the Joburg Super Kings in SA20, and in MLC, they own Texas Super Kings. Despite having one of the largest cricketing ecosystems, in one area, their presence has always been lacked is women’s cricket. Sharing the good news from the stage, the CSK CEO has confirmed that soon they will jump to invest in Women’s cricket and said, “The very next step for us will be to invest in women’s cricket. You can be sure of it.”
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Expressing his thoughts about their ecosystem, he said, as quoted by revzsoprtz, “We have a deep interest in building the sports ecosystem. Our investments are evidence. We want to support and make a difference. We have started with the grassroots and will expand over a period of time. Last year, we had a very special moment during the IPL when Gukesh met MSD. The mesh of cricket and other sports is essential. This year, we will be happy to have Tania Sachdev over and invite Ashwin to play a game of chess with her!”
MSD and CSK: A bond beyond cricket
The talk event also brought light to MS Dhoni. Mr Kashi emphasised Dhoni’s ability to pick the right players for the needed conditions and how he groomed Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube to bring out their best. Sharing a story, he said, “Let me tell you a story. I had spoken to MSD about Ashwin and asked him to take a look at South Africa in 2009. He said he had watched Ashwin, and he will soon get an opportunity. In his first game, he did not even bowl! Thereafter, MSD told him that he is good enough and will soon be given the ball. In a CLT20 game, which went to the super over, Ashwin stepped up for us. Murali did not want to bowl, and Ashwin stepped up to do the job.”
Sharing his belief in running a cricketing ecosystem, he said that cricketers and administrative bodies had different mindset so it is better to let cricketers be free to do their job gracefully. Confirming the fact that MSD is the DNA of the yellows, he said that Dhoni will manage cricket while the administrators build the brand at the grassroots level and even outside of cricket.
