Former India captain MS Dhoni was all set to spread his magic for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. His fans were super excited to scream “Dhoni Dhoni” chants in the stadium as well. But due to the coronavirus outbreak, the BCCI was forced to suspend the 13th season for an indefinite time. Dhoni fans, however, are still hopeful to see their favourite star’s return.
Last time, Dhoni was seen donning the Indian jersey in 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Since then, questions have been regularly raised over his future. In fact, the speculations over Dhoni’s future further strengthened after the BCCI did not keep him in the centrally contracted players list.
During the mega event in England, Dhoni batting with bats of different logos became the talk of the town. The Ranchi-born was seen playing with willows that had the logos of three different companies naming – SG, SS and BAS.
In the past, MSD has seen performing with bats with Reebok and Spartan logos. Speaking to The Scroll, the Marketing Director of SG (Sanspareils Greenlands), Paras Anand, revealed a specific reason behind Dhoni’s tactic of using multiple logos on the bat.
“Dhoni’s agent approached everybody for a contract before the 2019 World Cup. The level at which he was with the other brands that he was associated with [sticker sponsors like Reebok and Spartan], that amount of money no bat manufacturer could afford. Unfortunately, no big brand came forward because they may have thought that he will retire after the World Cup,” said Paras.
Paras articulated that Dhoni had an association with SG, SS and BAS from the start of his career, so his attempt to use these logos in the 2019 World Cup was his way of expressing thanks to the brands.
“Now, as far as SG, SS and BAS were concerned, he had an association with us from the start of his career. He started with BAS and then had a long partnership with SS. And then we also started servicing him irrespective of whether he was using our sticker. So the 2019 World Cup was his way of acknowledging us and saying thanks to the brands who supported him through his career,” added Paras.
“We were worried initially; we thought it wouldn’t send a good signal to the consumers. But eventually, we realised that any publicity is good publicity,” Paras added further.
Apart from Paras, the Managing Director of SS (Sareen Sports), Jatin Sareen, said that Dhoni gave tribute to the manufacturers in the global showpiece event.
“Through his career, when Dhoni was using bats that had sponsored stickers, many bat manufacturers looked after him. Then around the 2019 World Cup, when he thought he was going to retire and finish his career, he thought of giving a tribute to all the manufacturers that have served him by using their bats with their logos,” said Jatin.
