Chennai Super Kings’ Love Story With Fans & Old-Timers
Even during their ban, CSK players and staff went here and there but left their heart back in Chennai.
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In the middle of non-stop action and drama in the 11th edition of the IPL, one small piece of news caught everyone’s attention. As we all know Chennai Super Kings lost their right to host home games at Chennai for the remainder of the season due to the Cauvery water dispute and their base was shifted to Pune.
But CSK owners didn’t want to disappoint their loyal fans and arranged a special train that commuted one thousand CSK fans to their new home ground. The franchise organised their stay in Pune along with food and match tickets.
And on 25 April night at Bengaluru – when the two giants were up against each other – CSK fans were there too, matching the roar of the RCB supporters and on the field, their players were giving their everything.
What a match it was. MS Dhoni, as always, insanely calm under pressure and played another gem of an innings.
With Dhoni back in his favourite yellow colour, leading some of his most liked boys with more or less the same support staff, it almost doesn’t seem like CSK was missing from the league for two years.
Since the advent of the IPL, Chennai has believed in keeping the core and leadership group the same. Win or lose, bad game or good game, incredible season or poor one – CSK didn’t tinker with their core players or the support staff.
There is no debate on who will be the captain and who will coach the side next year. Such is their bond that even the not-so-visible emotions of Dhoni came out at an event before the start of this season. Dhoni missed Chennai and Chennai missed their Thala. What Sir Alex Ferguson was to Manchester United, Dhoni is to CSK.
Insiders in the team say that even newcomers don’t take much time to adjust and almost immediately feel like a part of the family. Owners of the team take the least interest in cricketing matters and more interest in the welfare of their players and staff. They give them the freedom to express themselves and leave the cricketing issues to coach and captain.
In a highly commercialised IPL, CSK is the least affected by the corporate-style running of affairs. After every season, when other teams start scrutinising their players and staff and look for changes based on results, CSK spends more time in consolidation than demolition. Something every team can learn from CSK is that they don’t waiver or get bothered easily. I guess it’s mostly because long before the IPL, India Cements use to run a cricket team for which players like Rahul Dravid and Murali Karthik have played in the local league and tournaments.
They performed professional obligations, but their feelings were still at Chepauk. When the ban got lifted, they all came back together like a flock. It didn’t take them long to once again bind together as a team.
Five wins out of six matches played so far, and it looks like the CSK juggernaut is unstoppable. No matter how daunting the task is or how hard the opposition is coming at them, they would find the resources to resurface.
They have chased with courage and defended with conviction. Twice they have chased 200 plus scores, once they almost chased 197. And their captain is belligerent as if all the talk about ‘Dhoni not being Dhoni anymore’ has hurt him. Not even halfway into the league and everyone has stepped back and is now admiring this sense of purpose and belief in Dhoni and his team.
(Nishant Arora is an award-winning cricket journalist, and most recently, the media manager of the Indian Cricket Team.)
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