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Pacer Rudra Pratap Singh denied being managed by Rhiti Sports, the firm in which Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a 15 per cent stake, raising questions of a possible conflict of interest.
A newspaper today reported that Dhoni has a 15 per cent stake in the company, which, the report claimed, manages R P Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha.
While Jadeja, Raina are the part of the same IPL franchise, Chennai Super Kings, RP Singh and Pragyan Ojha play for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians respectively.
"Don't know what exactly is running in the news but just to clarify I am not with Rhiti Sports," tweeted R P Singh after the report came out.
R P Singh has played 14 Tests and 58 ODIs for India. He has taken 40 wickets in the longer format and has 69 scalps in the one-dayers.
He has been out of favour for some time and has not played a Test or ODI since 2011.
Rhiti Sports is owned by Arun Pandey, a close friend of Dhoni. In 2010, Dhoni signed up with Rhiti reportedly for Rs 210 crore, an average of Rs 70 crore a year, the costliest deal in Indian cricket.
Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Reuters