The Delhi tabloid Mail Today on Sunday frontpaged a story about a leading Vaastu consultant and astrologer K. Venkatesan guiding and controlling all sports-related decisions of India Cements-owned Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
The report says, millions of cricket fans would have been troubled by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's slightly erratic form in the ongoing IPL-3, but the source of his discomfiture could well have been an astrologer, sources have revealed.
The captain of Chennai Super Kings ( CSK), the report says, has seemingly been rendered “ powerless” by the team owner N. Srinivasan's belief in the occult, sources said.
Srinivasan, who is the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI) and the managing director of the Chennai- headquartered India Cements, runs all his businesses, including the IPL team, based on the advice of Vastu Venkatesan, a leading astrologer and Vastu consultant based in Chennai.
With an annual salary of close to Rs 2 crore, Vastu Venkatesan is extremely close to Srinivasan and has been allegedly nicknamed Shakuni – a cunning advisor to the Kauravas in the Indian epic Mahabharata, who conspires to defeat the Pandavas in a game of dice.
Sources close to the CSK team said Vastu was introduced to Srinivasan by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former India batsman and the current chairman of the BCCI selection committee. Srikkanth is also CSK's brand ambassador. “ Srikkanth relies heavily on Venkatesan's advice,” sources said.
They added that in every match that CSK played at their home ground in Chepauk, Chennai, Venkatesan's deputy would draw a tantric triangle outside the boundary line as a good omen for the team.
“He also drew a similar triangle before the crucial match at Dharmasala against Kings XI Punjab, which Chennai eventually won.”
On Sunday morning at 10 am, in order to propitiate the gods before the final match, Venkatesan will be doing a “ havan” at Coromandel Towers, the headquarters of India Cements in Chennai, the Mail Today report said.
According to sources, Venkatesan's influence over Srinivasan and the team has risen to such an extent that he decides who should be included in the playing XI and also, shockingly, the batting order. Dhoni himself was told to bat at various positions throughout the tournament, sources said, even though he was successful at Nos 5 and 6 in the first two matches.
The decision to open the bowling with off spinner R. Ashwin — thought to be a strategic masterstroke by Dhoni — was also allegedly dictated by Venkatesan, as was the decision to bowl Muttiah Muralitharan's full four overs quota in all the 11 matches he played.
Luckily for CSK, Ashwin's promotion worked wonders for the team. According to insiders, Venkatesan even decides Dhoni should bat or field if he wins the toss. Though Venkatesan is over the moon when Chennai wins, sources said he comes up with inane explanations for the team's loss.
“ On one occasion, he said the team lost because someone had parked his car on the western side of the stadium,” an insider said. “ To this, our team owner just nodded his head in agreement.
It would interesting to know what reason he will come up with if our team loses in the final on Sunday.” Sources said that, “ Dhoni has little or no say in team strategy matters and is made to appear as just another more player in the Chennai Super Kings team. Though he is the captain of India, we have heard he is dejected and will not stay with this team after this season.”
But that is easier said than done. Dhoni, if he defies the astrologer and quits the team, stands to lose the huge prize money that he commands at present — a cool $ 1.5 million for the first three seasons, which will only go up next year when all players will be re- auctioned.
Since Srinivasan is slated to be BCCI president later this year, defying him and Srikkanth could also mean he would be gambling on his captain status in the national team.
Former BCCI president A. C. Muthiah admits that Venkatesan was introduced to him by Srikkanth. However, when Muthiah's camp was defeated in the BCCI elections and Srinivasan joined the cricket administration, Srikkanth switched his allegiance to the India Cements boss and introduced Venkatesan to him.
Srinivasan's meteoric rise coincided with this introduction, and as a result, his belief in Venkatesan grew.
He was made chairman of the powerful finance committee when Jagmohan Dalmiya became BCCI president. Later, Srinivasan, joined hands with Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar and defeated Dalmiya in the next elections.
It was then that Srinivasan was appointed BCCI secretary. Sources close to the CSK team said that Venkatesan, due to his proximity with Muthiah, knew his weak points so well that he could advise Srinivasan against him.
Who is Vaastu Venkatesan? This is what the vedic-academy website says about him:
K. Venkatesan, PhD
K. Venkatesan, M.Tech., PhD, is an Engineering consultant, Vasati expert, Vedic Astrologer and a Gem advisor.
He studied Electrical Engineering at the Madras University and earned his Masters degree in Remote Sensing from Anna University.
He has been awarded numerous awards ,titles and honors for his knowledge and expertise in the fields of Vasati , Vedic Astrology, Gemology among them, a PhD degree in Astrology from Suffield university, USA, and from Canterbury, an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from the Breyer State University, AL, USA, and Planetary Gem Advisor award (PGA) from Planetary Gemologists Association (Thailand).
But more importantly, Dr. Venkatesan who has a distinguished lineage and is a descendent of the famous Abirami Bhattar, and Chandrikanandanatha Swamigal , regarded as major saints in South India, is uniquely placed to disseminate Vedic learning.
As is well known, Vedic knowledge, unlike other subjects, is one primarily mastered through the transmission of learning from generation to generation, usually through direct oral teaching from parents to children.
As a descendant of the legendary Bhattar, Venkatesan has been the recipient of Vedic shastric learning, thus Vaastu, Vedic astrology and other Vedic knowledge forms a natural part of his own geneological background.
Dr. Venkatesan is the Chairman of the nodal agencies Vasati Foundation and Cosmic Foundation in India.
