Indian skipper MS Dhoni might take over the suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise soon, according to latest reports.
CSK was suspended alongside Rajasthan Royals (RR) last week by a committee headed by Justice RM Lodha. The committee announced the verdict of the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal on 14 July in New Delhi.
Now, the future of CSK and RR will completely depend on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who recently formed a Working Group to study the 59-page Lodha Committee Report. Thereafter, the IPL Governing Council (GC) will decide about the future of these two franchises and create a road map to the IPL version 9.0.
Dhoni has been the skipper of CSK ever since the inception of IPL in 2008. Now, the players are clueless about their future: whether they will be transferred to other franchises or will they be re-auctioned for the next edition of the pompous IPL.
Justice Lodha had cited earlier that these two franchises can continue in the IPL if they are bought by some other organisations. In that case, Dhoni might just run away with the Chennai team. Some reports also suggest that he might own a new franchise from his hometown Ranchi instead of CSK. At this moment, it all depends on what the Working Group headed by IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla come up with after going through the report.
The Indian captain is not new to sports management as he already has his hands on Chennaiyin FC from the Indian Super League (ISL), Ranchi team in Hero Hockey India League (HIL) and FIM Supersport World Championship team (Mahi Racing team India), reported India Today.
Meanwhile, Dhoni is all set to open a cricket academy in Bokaro, Jharkhand. Dhoni's Arca Foundation Trust has signed an agreement with the Delhi Public School in Bokaro. The students from the school will get their hands on the game from 15 August 2015. He is also planning to open more academies across his home state. Initially, he had planned to set it up in Ranchi or Dhanbad but later zeroed in on Bokaro. Reports also suggest that several other former cricketers are going to be a part of the coaching staff alongside Dhoni.
