{"id":16944,"date":"2026-05-18T17:05:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/2026\/05\/18\/ipl-2026-it-doesnt-matter-whether-ms-dhoni-plays-sanjay-manjrekar-makes-brutally-honest-remark\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:05:02","slug":"ipl-2026-it-doesnt-matter-whether-ms-dhoni-plays-sanjay-manjrekar-makes-brutally-honest-remark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/?p=16944","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026 | &#8216;It doesn&#8217;t matter whether MS Dhoni plays&#8217;: Sanjay Manjrekar makes brutally honest remark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-articlebody=\"1\"><video-embed value=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"ihgno clearfix  \">\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-131181341,imgsize-42144,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/sanjay-manjrekar-and-ms-dhoni.jpg\" alt=\"IPL 2026 | 'It doesn't matter whether MS Dhoni plays': Sanjay Manjrekar makes brutally honest remark\" title=\"Sanjay Manjrekar and MS Dhoni\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Sanjay Manjrekar and MS Dhoni\">Sanjay Manjrekar and MS Dhoni<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: MS Dhoni has always meant more to <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/chennai-super-kings\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Chennai Super Kings<\/a> (CSK) than just being a cricketer. Even though he did not play a single match in IPL 2026 because of multiple injuries, he still remained the biggest talking point around the team. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>Fans got excited when he appeared at Chepauk during a matchday, hoping for a comeback, but reports later confirmed that another injury had ruled him out again. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>His absence throughout the season only increased the constant speculation over whether he would play one final game for CSK.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>Former India batter <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/topic\/sanjay-manjrekar\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">Sanjay Manjrekar<\/a> said he is tired of discussing the Dhoni situation and believes CSK became too emotional about their former captain instead of focusing on results and team balance.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>\u201cTo be very honest, I&#8217;ve exhausted myself so much talking about another icon. I&#8217;ve got nothing left to say about Dhoni. And if you want a very short and brutally honest answer, it doesn&#8217;t matter. Whether he plays, whether he doesn&#8217;t play,\u201d he told Sportstar Podcast.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>Manjrekar clarified that his admiration for MS Dhoni remains unchanged because of what Dhoni achieved for India and CSK in his prime. He even said that a younger Dhoni could have taken this current CSK side into the playoffs with his leadership skills.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"21\"\/>According to Manjrekar, CSK\u2019s biggest mistake this season was trying too hard to fit Dhoni into the squad despite his fitness struggles and age. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"23\"\/>He said the franchise should now focus more on current performances and winning matches rather than emotional attachment.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"25\"\/>\u201cCSK have learned one harsh lesson \u2014 don&#8217;t get too emotional about your players. Be emotional about the reality, the performances, your current standing, the points table,\u201d he said.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"27\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/ipl-2026\/ipl-2026-it-doesnt-matter-whether-ms-dhoni-plays-sanjay-manjrekar-makes-brutally-honest-remark\/articleshow\/131181320.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sanjay Manjrekar and MS Dhoni NEW DELHI: MS Dhoni has always meant more to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) than just being a cricketer. Even though he did not play a single match in IPL 2026 because of multiple injuries, he still remained the biggest talking point around the team. Fans got excited when he appeared&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}