Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar lashed out at the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) owners after their poor start to the season. The cricketer-turned-commentator blamed the top management for their failures as he minced no words over how the franchise was being run. He was also critical of the fandom around MS Dhoni.

Manjrekar used harsh words for the fan-following of Dhoni and claimed sycophancy had seeped into Indian cricket. He also called out the franchise for 'badly handling' the situation around the 44-year-old. The ex-Indian batter blamed the CSK management for Ruturaj Gaikwad's poor form.

“This blame, I’m going to put at the doorstep of the owners and people who make the big decisions. Because Gaikwad, before he was captain, was phenomenal at the top of the order.

"And then that thing with M.S Dhoni, whether he’s going to be playing, whether he’s going to be captain, they handled that very badly. And this is where you see the sycophancy of Indian culture that has seeped into cricket as well. I mean, there isn’t just a fan following of Dhoni, there is sycophancy around it,” said Manjrekar in an interaction with Sportstar.

Manjrekar recalled an incident on how he was abused by CSK fans for claiming that he should have been run out.

“There was [this] one instance of Dhoni trying to put his bat into the crease, and it was a very close call. And I said, well, he is clearly short of the crease, and it should be run out. They [fans] got angry with me for saying that because it was anti-Dhoni. So somewhere they lost sight of the whole picture," Manjrekar stated.

Manjrekar cast doubt on whether Dhoni's return from injury will make any difference and questioned how he can be accommodated in the playing XI. He further likened CSK's and MI's struggles and claimed both franchises are guilty of a similar fault leading to poor results.

“Maybe, but then you have to play Dhoni on the field. And how do you do that? I mean, increasingly, he’s finding it tough to deliver. So it was a bit of a joke when he used to come down the order and just play three or four balls. The coverage would hype that up as well – ‘What an innings.’ And it lasted four balls.

“So that’s not feasible anymore, and it was never going to be a long-term thing. So I can’t pretend to know how Ruturaj felt when M.S. was on the field, but not captaining, as opposed to M.S. not being there and he being solely in charge,” said Manjrekar.

“CSK and Mumbai Indians are slightly guilty of being emotionally connected and invested in the big-name, big-brand players a bit too much. CSK even more so with Dhoni. This means that you’re not getting people who are in their prime. It’s like living in the past a little bit. It’s just about getting guys who are in their prime in T20 cricket. It’s such a modern-day format, so it’s best to be current with everything that you do with your team,” Manjrekar concluded.

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