"Our owner was India Cements, headed by Mr Srinivasan. As he was also on the board of the BCCI, he gave control of the team to his son-in-law, Mr Gurunath. He ran the team along with Kepler Wessels, who was coach," he wrote in his book, the excerpts of which were revealed on Monday.
His revelation comes at a time when Meiyappan is under investigation for his alleged links with illegal bookmakers and punters during the Indian Premier League (IPL). Hussey's admission that Meiyappan called the shots in the Super Kings franchise undermines Srinivasan's claim that his son-in-law had no role to play in running the team, and that he was only a 'cricket enthusiast'.
TOI spoke to five franchise owners and officials of the IPL who scoff at the allusion that Meiyappan was just a 'cricket enthusiast'.
"It has been the norm in the IPL from Day One that every franchise has to state on record in advance who will be representing them at the auctions, workshops and other official events and in what capacity. We have all been doing it all the time. We used to first keep Lalit (Modi) in the loop and later it was Sundar (Raman). Meiyappan used to be there in almost all meetings taking decisions on behalf of CSK," says a franchise official.
It is evident that none of these franchises want to come on record at this point of time, simply because they have to be part of the League and can continue working with their teams.
Interestingly, Meiyappan himself used to be quite vocal about his role in the Super Kings camp. "Before every game, Dhoni, Fleming and I exchange our elevens at 5.45 pm (for the night matches).
Incredibly, there has never been a difference of more than one name in our teams!" he is quoted as saying in an interview to a national daily in Chennai on February 2, 2011.
In the same interview, he adds: "Fleming and I spent countless hours in the lead-up to the auction (referring to player auctions). In the last three days, we conducted mock auctions, picked around 45 different combinations.
"We bought back Michael Hussey again, ahead of Brendon McCullum, not only because the Australian is such a dynamic batsman but due to his excellent rapport with the team members. In fact, Murali Vijay confessed to me that he wanted to open with Hussey again."
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