Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes under attack from former cricketers

NEW DELHI: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has come under sharp attack from some former cricketers for his alleged conflict of interest for having stakes in the sports management company which handles him and three of his Indian teammates.


Dhoni found himself in a controversy when it came to light that he had 15 per cent stake in Rhiti Sports, which also manages Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha, besides the Indian captain.

However, the firm has made it clear that Dhoni was a shareholder only for a brief period, and currently has no stakes.

But former Indian cricketers and sports management executives feel that Dhoni should not put himself in such a position where questions could be raised about a possible conflict of interest.

"Obviously, the documents that have come out indicates that it has been a conflict of interest as far as Dhoni's involvement with Rhiti Sports is concerned," former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad told PTI.

"I don't mind if an ex-cricketer is acting as an agent for a living. But when I see Pragyan Ojha being relegated to second choice left-arm spinner suddenly and Ravindra Jadeja being valued at $2 million after being banned for trying to cut underhand deals in IPL, I guess something is wrong.

"Also if the company didn't have sufficient money, how did they issue shares and paid it back," Azad pointed out.

Latika Khaneja of Collage Sports management said there was an obvious conflict of interest and also raised questions about Rs 210 crore deal that was struck between the captain and the company.

"Obviously there is conflict of interest. The first question that crops up is Rs 210 crore minimum guarantee money which is huge. Ravindra Jadeja was managed by my company from 2006-2011. But if a player comes and wants to join another firm, you can't stop him and especially if the firm is also managing the Indian captain," Khaneja said. Another former cricketer Maninder Singh also felt if the captain indeed had shares it was a clear case of conflict of interest.

"But who do you expect to stop the rot when the BCCI President has gone against everyone who has stood up for the game...basically the President has been saving the captain who is also vice-president in his company," he said.