Chennai Super Kings signed MS Dhoni for $1.5 million during the IPL 2008 auction and Preity Zinta regret not signing him.
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Indian Premier League changed the fortunes of T20 cricket when it was first launched in 2008. The auction was a brand new process, and there was a concept of Icon players as well. There was a rule that the icon players will be paid 15% more than the highest paid auction pick of the respective teams.
Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians), Yuvraj Singh (Punjab Kings), Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata Knight Riders), Rahul Dravid (Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Virender Sehwag (Delhi Capitals) were the icon players. Chennai Super Kings decided to go against signing the icon players, and they went with a full purse.
Every team had a fixed purse of US$ 5 million, and Chennai Super Kings took full advantage of it. When MS Dhoni’s name came, CSK and Mumbai Indians went in for him, but CSK signed the Indian wicketkeeper for a price of $1.5 million.
Preity Zinta regrets not signing $1.5 million valued MS Dhoni
Preity Zinta, the owner of the Punjab Kings said in 2008 that he always wanted MS Dhoni in her team, but that can’t happen. She was honest that she was not a big fan of MS Dhoni back in 2008 when Chennai Super Kings bought Dhoni. After IPL 2008, Dhoni never came back in an IPL auction.
“There is just one player who I have always wanted in my team but that won’t ever happen… and that is MS Dhoni. When the IPL started I wasn’t a Dhoni fan but from what I’ve seen of him in the last 10 years I’ve started to admire him,” Preity said in 2018.
MS Dhoni played for Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2017 season, and he was not great with the bat at all despite his team reaching the finals. Although, he was back in CSK colours for the 2018 season, and he played some brilliant knocks. Zinta said that Dhoni does not need to prove to people who he is.
“Last year everybody started saying Dhoni should stop playing but look at him this year. He is unbelievable and I think it’s unfair at every step to challenge a player once he reaches a certain stature. He doesn’t need to tell people who he is, he is Dhoni.”
