Two Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises – Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings – hardly ever submit themselves to media scrutiny during the season.
They are famous for pulling down the shutters and not giving access for interviews with players or the coaching staff. There are two reasons for that usually: a) to avoid controversies, b) to let the personnel focus on the game proper.
This has been the policy now for close to the entire duration of the IPL with both franchises.
So when days before the 2019 edition of the IPL gets underway, to have those very two franchises come up with their version of events is a refreshing change in approach.
In the case of Mumbai Indians, Netflix put out their version of events in the 2018 edition. Then earlier today, we had Hotstar releasing a five-part series on the Chennai Super Kings’ triumphant return to the competition in 2018.
While a lot has been said about the Mumbai Indians story, Chennai’s tale is a lot different. This has everything – triumph, despair, ban, spot-fixing and suspensions. That’s what makes the whole story unique.
What is even more unique is the fact that the people running the franchise, including the owner N Srinivasan of India Cements and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have hardly ever commented on the whole fiasco leading to Chennai’s suspension from the tournament for two years. So there was an air of expectation around the whole story being told by the men that matter.
But what is disappointing is the fact that while there is a lot of frank conversations in the very first episode about the suspension, there is almost a sense of denial about the whole matter.
Firstly, there is Dhoni finally breaking his silence on the issue of Gurunath Meiyappan, the son-in-law of Srinivasan who was arrested by Mumbai police for alleged involvement in betting, and then subsequently suspended by the Justice Lodha panel. Dhoni is almost stunned into announcing to the world through the first episode that while Gurunath was always around the team, there was never any formal association of the discredited individual with Chennai franchise.
This is an attempt to completely disassociate the franchise from the Gurunath fiasco. Remember Gurunath’s alleged role as Team Principal was the reason why Chennai got dragged into the whole mess and then got suspended. Through the web series, the makers, which includes Dhoni himself, are trying to dust themselves off of any possible link-ups. While it is a good way to wash off the sins of the past, it is too little too late.
For Dhoni to now claim that fixing is the biggest sin to be committed in sport is fine in 2019, but when it happened in 2013, he preferred to be mum.
That famous press conference of 2013 when the Indian squad had assembled in Mumbai prior to departure for the Champions Trophy is still very vivid in my memory. As a journalist kept pressing Dhoni for a reaction, he smiled even as the media manager of the Indian squad pushed the questioner to switch to Indian squad related queries. The problem was at that time Dhoni ruled the roost with Srinivasan in power and the President of the BCCI at the time backed the complete media lockdown. So there was never any opportunity for the media to question Dhoni about the Gurunath case. We must all remember that Dhoni had also been unwittingly dragged into the mess.
But in the documentary Dhoni is bewildered to see that the questioner should ask an IPL-related query at Indian cricket squad press conference, conveniently forgetting that there was no other platform ever to ask him the question. Since then there has hardly ever been an opportunity to ask Dhoni questions on the suspension of Chennai, spot-fixing or even why he quit Test cricket or his limited-overs captaincy! Everyone is always solving riddles when it comes to Dhoni.
There are others in the series like Ravindra Jadeja who believes Chennai was ‘unfairly targeted’, a view echoed by a few others. If this is not an attempt to whitewash a tarred legacy, then nothing is.
The suspension question is dealt with in the first episode and then the Dhoni philosophy on fixing as a concept is brought back in the final episode. But the whole issue is not allowed to linger on for long.
The return of Chennai becomes the focal point of the whole story thereafter. The build-up to the first match against Mumbai Indians, including the sight of an emotional Dhoni breaking down makes for good viewing. There is an attempt to show the affinity for Chennai Super Kings the city of Chennai has, especially the open top bus journey to the MA Chidambaram Stadium which underlines what the franchise means to its fans.
The madness of Chennai fans is really something to be seen. No other franchise has this level of fandom, so it was hardly a surprise to see the practice sessions being jam-packed too!
The journey of the squad through the season, including the Cauvery water issue forcing the squad out of Chennai, also captures the ups and downs in the 2018 edition. The fact that on its return the Kings had to move to Pune meant that the homecoming is still incomplete.
The series breezes through the middle phase of the tournament, but they don’t hold back when it comes to cracking a joke at their own expense. Dhoni is regularly heard referring to the squad as Dad’s army or even Chennai Senior Kings in response to the average age of the squad being around 33-34. That is the only honest assessment of the squad for the 2018 edition.
There is great deal of insights from some key international players including Shane Watson, batting coach Mike Hussey,and head coach Stephen Fleming. But the most interesting bit is that they have managed to get a reclusive Srinivasan to talk as well. Overall the documentary has a lot of interesting conversations, but nothing that will leave you awestruck, except Dhoni’s assertion of his clean record.
Of course what really took the cake was the comments from former India captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth, an old Super Kings hand. He was really hilarious in his descriptions and made some of the most amusing comments.
But Dhoni remains the focal point of the documentary and he is the soul of the whole piece. Give it one hard look just to see Dhoni talk because he rarely ever does!
(Chandresh Narayanan was a cricket writer with The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for the ICC and the former media manager of Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of ‘World Cup Heroes’, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)
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