Manjrekar Calls Dhoni Fandom 'Sycophancy' — CSK and MI Are Living in the Past

Tonight at the Wankhede, CSK and MI play the Indian Classico. Between them: 10 IPL titles, the two biggest fanbases in cricket, and a combined record of five wins from 13 games this season. Seventh meets eighth. Both chasing relevance, not trophies.

And into this wreckage walks Sanjay Manjrekar with a blowtorch. In a wide-ranging interview this week, the former India batter didn't just critique one squad or one player — he took aim at the institutional rot he believes has sunk both franchises. The diagnosis? Nostalgia addiction. The word he used? Sycophancy.

Manjrekar's critique starts with CSK, and specifically with how the franchise has handled the Dhoni-to-Gaikwad transition. His argument: the owners and decision-makers created the conditions for Gaikwad to fail.

The numbers are brutal. Ruturaj Gaikwad has 82 runs from six innings this season at an average of 13.67 and a strike rate of 112. His highest score is 28. For context, he averaged 42 in IPL 2024 (590 runs) and 53 in IPL 2025 (583 runs, top score 108*). This isn't natural decline — it's a collapse.

Manjrekar traces it back to the captaincy handover, or rather the non-handover. Dhoni was nominally replaced as captain, but never truly left. The 44-year-old controls the dressing room culture, makes field adjustments from the sidelines, talks to bowlers between overs. Gaikwad wears the armband but doesn't own the room.

Manjrekar doesn't stop at Chennai. He pulls Mumbai Indians into the same conversation — arguing both franchises are guilty of prioritizing sentiment over squad efficiency.

Exhibit A: Jasprit Bumrah. The greatest T20 fast bowler in history went five consecutive matches without a wicket to start this season — the longest wicketless streak of his IPL career. He bowled 15 overs for 123 runs and zero breakthroughs. Teams aren't just playing him — they're specifically targeting his overs, something that was unthinkable 12 months ago.

Exhibit B: Rohit Sharma. Out since April 12 with a hamstring strain. MI's response to losing him? They won by 99 runs. Tilak Varma smashed 101* off 45 balls, Ashwani Kumar took 4/24, and the whole team looked liberated. That's not a coincidence — it's what happens when a squad stops playing around legends and starts playing as a unit.

Manjrekar's most incendiary claim is that Dhoni worship has crossed from fandom into something corrosive. He cites a specific on-air incident: calling a Dhoni run-out in real time, getting the decision right, and being attacked by fans for being "anti-Dhoni." The message to every commentator, analyst, and franchise decision-maker is clear — don't question Thala.

That kind of environment, Manjrekar argues, makes it impossible to make hard-nosed cricketing decisions. Do you drop a 44-year-old who hasn't played all season? Do you tell the actual captain he's in charge and mean it? Do you build a squad for 2026 instead of reliving 2011?

PBKS sit top of the table with 11 points. They have no legacy players, no brand ambassadors moonlighting as squad members, no captaincy drama. They just pick the best XI and play. It's not romantic. It works.

The Wankhede will be electric. There's a real chance both Dhoni and Rohit return tonight — two legends who together have defined the IPL for a decade and a half. The crowd will roar. The cameras will find every reaction shot. The narrative will write itself.

But Manjrekar's question hangs over every ball: are CSK and MI building teams, or curating museums? In a format that changes every six months — new rules, new strategies, new impact player combinations — emotional attachment to the past isn't loyalty. It's a liability.

Somewhere in Mumbai tonight, 10 trophies between two dugouts. And both teams will be desperately hoping one game can paper over the cracks that Manjrekar just tore wide open.