These are hard times for Indian cricket, for one controversy is surfacing after another, and it hardly seems like stopping. After S Sreesanth and N Srinivasan, it is India skipper M S Dhoni’s turn to be in the eye of the storm, as he is reported to have a stake in the Rhiti Sports Management Group, leading to a possible conflict of interest, apart from propriety issues.
Dhoni apparently gets 15 per cent share of the profits earned by the company, owned by his close friend and business associate Arun Pandey, and manages cricketers such as Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina and badminton star Saina Nehwal. It was in March that Rhiti Sports decided to allocate 30,000 shares of `10 each to Dhoni, totalling a 15 per cent stake in the company, thus sparking a potential case of conflict of interest.
If the report is true, then Dhoni is in a position where he could misuse his captaincy and favour the Rhiti Sports-managed cricketers into the playing eleven. However, Pandey said the firm had bought back the shares. “As on date, Dhoni holds no share in Rhiti Sports, which also manages Chennai Super Kings.”