A clash of interest saga now haunts Team India skipper MS Dhoni after a newspaper report claimed on Monday that he owns 15 per cent stakes in Rhiti Sports, the sports management company which handles him and three other players Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha.
The conflict of interest chant emerges from the fact that as Captain, Dhoni has a say in selection matters and is responsible, along with his coach and vice-captain, for picking the playing 11 before every match.
Though Dhoni, currently in England for the Champions Trophy, is yet to respond to these revelations, Arun Pandey, his longtime friend and managing director of Rhiti Sports, came out with a brief and hurried clarification, claiming that he (Dhoni) did own the shareholding but only for a month. He said that it was a temporary arrangement to “secure certain old outstandings”.
“As on date, MSD holds no shares in Rhiti Sports Management (P) ltd. However, it is made clear that shareholding was allotted to MSD on 22.03.2013 only to secure certain old outstandings which were due for more than a year. The payments were cleared on April 2013 and the shareholding was transferred back to promoters of the company on 26.04.2013,” Pandey said.
It is a known fact that Dhoni and Pandey are longtime friends and Pandey used to bowl to him at the nets in his earlier days. Their friendship turned into a business relationship in 2007 when Pandey started to negotiate deals for Dhoni informally. In July 2010, Rhiti Sports signed Dhoni for Rs 210 crore, an average of Rs 70 crore a year, the priciest deal in Indian cricket.
“We at Rhiti Sports Management Pvt ltd are greatly aggrieved at the widespread media reports regarding alleged conflict of interest of MSD,” Pandey added.
“...Though not obligated to, but in order to put at rest the widespread speculation, we are issuing this statement to bring in knowledge the correct factual matrix. It is made clear that the Management of Rhiti Sports Management (P) ltd understands its obligations to the field of sport and the country and adheres to the laws of the land," Pandey further added.
The newspaper report claimed that left-arm medium pacer Rudra Pratap Singh was also managed by Rhiti Sports but Singh denied this. "Don't know what exactly is running in the news but just to clarify I am not with Rhiti Sports," he tweeted on Monday.