MS Dhoni has been the most successful captain in the Indian Premier League and Chennai Super Kings are currently the defending champions winning the 2023 season in a last ball thriller.

After retiring from international cricket, MS Dhoni has switched off from cricket and plays only the Indian Premier League. MS Dhoni has been captain and CSK’s favourite son since its inception, so it is but natural for CSK fans to ‘god worship’ their favourite cricketer.

MS Dhoni currently just a shadow of his past but this has not affected his popularity and Brand MSD is as big as IPL this season considering how extremely hard-wired fan base of CSK is. Does this mean ‘Brand MSD’ is bigger than the CSK franchise and the IPL?

The Chennai Fans

Chennai fans and People from Tamil Nadu take fandom to a different level, be it for their support to a political party, movies or for any sport. Heroes to them are worshiped and they are the most vocal when it comes to support.

Over the years, CSK had good replacements for captaincy role but in the eyes of the CSK Fans none were as good as MSD and MSD the wicket keeper was hard to find.

The whole world is Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan over the years but there is a vast difference between MSD the player of the past to MSD the showman today for the CSK fans.

MSD is definitely a big influencer and his presence in the stadium in any form helps the viewership.
There is a deliberate attempt from the broadcasters to represent MSD as a larger-than-life character with commentators showering praises on the player even when there is little to no merit for it.

While commentators criticise a fielder for every small on field mistake, glaring mistakes made by MSD is conveniently ignored or never spoken about.

The chant of “Dhoni” “Dhoni” reverberates in all stadiums The camera constantly pans at MSD to capture his reaction on almost a ball-to-ball basis even today when he no more dons the captain’s cap. The commentators too add spice to the whole situation with an over-the-top hyperbole on the CSKNumber 7.

Virender Sehwag slams the broadcasters on MS Dhoni obsession

Virender Sehwag, came heavily on the broadcasters in the ongoing IPL 2024 season.

Virender Sehwag is known for his witty one liner in live commentary and hilariously made a comment after the cameraman only showed MS Dhoni’s face on the screen and skipped Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Technically, Ruturaj is the captain, but it is evident that it is difficult to remove the captaincy from Dhoni’s game behind the stumps.
Broadcasters focus their camera only on MSD even when he is not involved.

Commentator Virender Sehwag took a hilarious jibe by urging the cameraman to also show skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s face.

“Bhai Ruturaj ka bhichahraadekha do ek do baar…. vobhi captain haisirf Dhoni ka hi Chahraadekharaha ha. (Brother, show Ruturaj’s face too in the camera, he is the captain. You are only showing Dhoni’s face)”, he said during commentary on Jio Cinema.

Commentators too getting mixed in overhyping MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni has enough legacy that influences all commentators subconsciously.

The Constant overhyping of MS Dhoni by senior commentators like Sunil Gavaskar and Mathew Haydenis beyond cringe level. Over exaggeration to every action taken by MS Dhoni is extrapolated to give a larger-than-life scenario.

Broadcasters fail to show replays and commentators tend to avoid speaking on lapsesmade on-field by MS Dhoni.
For other players, commentators would go overboard while criticising the player.

MS Dhoni the Enigma

MS Dhoni being a very private person, hardly is in social media. His lack of social media presence fuels speculation in the fan’s mind and this ignites the speculation further when rumours are not addressed. This is more during the IPL.

While MSD is also a little guilty in the entire fiasco as whenever he communicates, messages from MSD is always cryptic and never a clearcut one.

Be it the speculative news about his retirement doing the rounds in the past 5 years, his position in the batting order, the controversy surrounding Ravindra Jadeja or Suresh Raina, MSD’s intentional silence on the topics only adds fuel to fire.

Every year “will Dhoni Play?” would be in the mind of every cricket fan and MSD has played to the gallery year on year and kept himself available till date.

MSD gets the biggest applauds and cheers from the crowd in the stadium just when his face is displayed on the big screen.

He has earned Superhuman status in the eyes of the fan.

MSD prefers to only keep wickets and pushes himself too low in the batting lineup.

MSD didshowglimpses of his past prowessagainst the Delhi Capitals but the game was out of CSK’s reach by then.

This glaring loophole will be further used by other Teams against CSK in the tournament.

The quote from Batman aptly describes MSD’s predicament and to many other greats who stretched their retirement,
“You Either Die a Hero or You live long enough to see yourself become the Villain”.