With the advent of social media, there have been fan groups of cricketers who are often seen debating who is the best. India's prominent players have a huge fan base on social media. However, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh stirred up controversy while rain played spoilsport at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Harbhajan claimed that only Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni has a real fan base whereas other have 'paid' fans.
“He can play as long as he can. Had it been my team, I would have made a different decision. Fans will want him to continue playing. I feel he has a real fan base; the rest are all on social media, which are even paid fans," Harbhajan said.
“Leave them out, because if we start discussing that, the discussion will go in a different direction," Harbhajan said.
“Itna sach nahi bolna tha (You weren’t supposed to be this honest)," co-panellist, former India opener Aakash Chopra responded to Harbhajan's statement.
Meanwhile, Dhoni is gearing up for Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) next clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on May 20. CSK are already eliminated from the playoffs race. They are placed at the bottom of the points table with nine losses from 12 games.
Currently, Dhoni is CSK's fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament. The 43-year-old wicketkeeper-batter who took over the captaincy after Ruturaj Gaikwad got injured, has scored 180 runs from 12 games at an average of 25.71. His strike rate is 140.62.
Raina lauds Dhoni, blames CSK management for horrid season
Last month, Dhoni's former CSK teammate Suresh Raina had said that the veteran was not involved in think tank ahead of 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,” Raina said.
"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." the former cricketer added.