MS Dhoni to break silence on IPL spot-fixing row that saw CSK being banned for 2 years

A lot has been said and written about the Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal that saw Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings being banned from the league for two years. While a total of three RR cricketers were handed life bans for their involvement, including S Sreesanth, a few other players were allegedly involved too. Having seen the scandal-hit Indian cricket hard, CSK skipper MS Dhoni didn’t open up on the controversy back then but is now set finally break his silence.

In a special docu-series on one of the leading streaming platforms, directed by famous Bollywood director Kabir Khan, the infamous IPL spot-fixing scandal 2013 will be talked about and how the Dhoni-led CSK side served its 2-year suspension before assembling a quality squad once again to win the Indian Premier League title on their return in 2018.

It wasn’t just the sentiments of the fans of Indian cricket that got hurt following the fixing scandal but the players – especially in Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings – were affected too. The docu-series aims to highlight what the players went through during that phase, with none other than Dhoni opening up on one of the darkest incidents of his career.

“We know all about the broad strokes, the legal side, and the uproar. We don’t know what was happening to the individuals beyond those headlines. This is a story behind the headlines. Were these headlines affecting Dhoni? Of course, they were, but he never spoke about it, until now,” Kabir told PTI.

“Our interviews with him on tape lasted sometimes seven to eight hours. He trusted me and had the confidence that I’ll be sensitive in the way things are going to be portrayed. He was ready to bare his soul,” he added. “You’ve never seen Dhoni speak like this. He has always been silent about these matters. You’ll see Dhoni in a very personal, emotional way on this series.”

Allegations of corruption were levied against CSK, as well as their captain, amid the outrage that the cricketing fraternity witnessed during that period. From handling such grave allegations to winning the title in their first season after return, talks a lot about the character that the Dhoni-led team showed.

Highlighting the same, Khan further said: “The most successful IPL franchise has match-fixing allegations against them and the icon of the country: Dhoni. They get banned, they cope with that, come back after the allegations are cleared, build a team which is ridiculed and goes on to win again. How could I not have done this?”

The series is named ‘Roar of the Lion’, is the second cricketing assignment for the ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ director who is also working on “83”, a feature on the Indian cricket team’s first ICC World Cup win.
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