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Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Suresh Raina has slammed the franchise's management for their poor run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and said that MS Dhoni did not have involvement in the players selected at the mega auction.
"Kashi [CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan] sir - I think he has been handling the administration for almost 30 to 40 years now. And Rupa Ma'am is managing all the cricket administration - buying the players, maintaining the core group. But everyone knows that the players bought this time weren't selected properly," Raina said while speaking on Star Sports.
Raina said that contrary to popular belief, Dhoni does not make all the calls at CSK about which player gets retained or who gets picked in the mega auction.
"They always say MS Dhoni makes the final call. But to be very honest, I never attended any of the auctions. I was never a part of those discussions. I always talked about the players who were retained. MS might get a call about whether to go ahead with a player or not - but he's not that involved," the southpaw said.
Dhoni carrying the team
Raina said that Dhoni is still carrying the team on his shoulders but the players who have got hefty paychecks are not match-winner material. He feels that CSK are repeating their mistakes.
"The core group handles the auction - you can imagine, Dhoni can’t have this type of auction. He would maybe name four or five players he wants, and out of them, a few would be retained. Even if an uncapped player is working hard, look at MS Dhoni-—being a 43-year-old captain, still giving everything.
"He's playing just for the brand, for his name, for the fandom - and still putting in the effort. At 43, he's doing wicketkeeping, captaining, carrying the entire team on his shoulders. But what are the other ten players doing?
"Those who are paid Rs 18 crores, Rs 17 crores, Rs 12 crores - they're not responding to the captain. Especially when you've never lost to certain teams before - that needs to be rectified. You have to identify - is this player a match-winner?
"Can I trust this player in the next match? There are players who've been playing there for years - even the older ones. But what are the results? You're losing. The same mistakes are happening every time," the 38-year-old opined.
Dhoni to take major decisions?
Raina has predicted that Dhoni will now have a meeting addressing the team's inability to perform.
"I think MS Dhoni will now sit down - he won't want anyone around him. He must have made up his mind. After the toss, when they lost, the way he walked - and both of them were standing there - it's clear there's going to be a meeting today," Raina added.
CSK have lost seven out of nine games in the season. They will go up against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their next home clash on April 30.
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