V. Venkataramana
CSK (Chennai Super Kings), is still the most popular and discussed among the ten franchises competing in the Indian Cricket Board’s marque T20 cricket competition Indian Premier League, or IPL. Notwithstanding injuries as another edition of IPL kicks off on its home turf At M A Chidambaram Stadium CSK, owned by industrialist and former Indian Cricket Board chief N. Srinivasan of India Cements, and being led by former Indian captain, M.S. Dhoni; will be going into the 2024 edition with a good all-round squad, arguably. It’s foreign stars include Kiwis – allrounder Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner and D. Mitchell. And CSK is cemented by many multi-utility Indian players, including the experienced Jadeja, Deepak Chahar and Shardhul Thakur.
But the real star of CSK continues to be the captain: “Mahi” or M S Dhoni. He is past his prime with the bat, but CSK would not let go of Dhoni. For, they cannot just think of anybody else in that position who could propel the team to the heights that Dhoni has taken CSK. Since the inaugural IPL edition in 2008, Dhoni has been doing what he knows best as the leader of his team: snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, as it were. His only failure, if it can be called so, has been the time when the franchise faced suspension from IPL for two seasons starting 2015. And in 2022 when the team failed to make it to the knock out phase.
But CSK bounced back in 2023 to bag its fifth IPL title beating the revised target of 172 off the last two balls of the final ( 20th) over in a rain affected title clash against 2022 winners Gujarat Titans, at Ahmedabad. In this match as well as throughout the league phase CSK playing as the most well-knit fighting unit under Dhoni reached IPL final for the record tenth time notably.
Especially for the team’s home matches at MA Chidambaram stadium last IPL season the spectator support for CSK and Dhoni reached a crescendo. Not only cricket fans with basic knowledge of cricket, those who play the sport at some official level like school, college , league or club, and also those who have no cricketing knowledge, que up at the ticket counters. The result: tickets were being sold for as high a price as Rs 4000 or even more for every match. The CSK fans don’t mind even if the team loses a game. They simply had to don the now ‘famous’ yellow T shirt with the lion head symbol and the cap and wave in frenzy the CSK flag as the action unfolded on the pitch.
“Tamil Nadu is known for Hero worship” interprets septuagenarian Srinivasan, who is among a cross section of sports lovers especially cricket with unflinching love for CSK vis-a-vis other IPL franchises. Himself a club level player, including hockey, he has been rooting for CSK right since 2008. “Be it politics, cinema or sport, Chennaiites pamper their heroes. The cricket lovers’ liking for CSK firmed up once the team began to prove its mettle,” he argues.
Ganapathi Subramanian, a retired executive from Ashok Leyland, and an amateur cricketer and golfer is also a CSK fan. He confides that in the final last year Gujarat deserved to win, “but my favourite is Chennai Super Kings”. He observes that CSK is the favourite IPL team because of its management and “ Dhoni’s demeanour.”
“It is not just because of Dhoni alone,” opines Balaji, a former TNCA official, former league level cricketer and national level rower and rowing coach, who had accompanied rowers from Tamil Nadu who were part of the Indian rowing squad at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. “It is the management headed by the CSK franchise owner N. Srinivasan. He thinks cricket, has a plan, executes it. And this drives the team to prove and perform. What’s more, he (Srinivasan) cares for his players and is approachable,” Balaji observes.
For all this glory, there is something ironical about CSK: It is that barring the world class off spinner R Ashwin and two other former Team India players Pacer Lakshmipati Balaji and opening batsman M. Vijay, no other star player from Tamil Nadu has figured in the XI. The team management has included a few upcoming Tamil Nadu talents in the CSK squad, but just one or two of them had got a chance to figure in the playing XI. And this is what irks Radhakrishnan, a retired physio from Southern Railway. An ardent cricket fan, he avers that CSK owes its star status among IPL teams entirely to Dhoni’s leadership skills. “His contribution as a batsman has plunged to zero, especially during the last two IPL seasons,” he points out, and adds Gujarat Titans perhaps rate high alongside CSK.
CEO of Chennai Super Kings ( CSK) franchise Kasi Viswanathan says the team management was ” privileged and honoured” to have, arguably, the best fan following among the ten IPL franchises.
“All I can say is that we are privileged and honoured to have the fans that we do. Our fans are the heartbeat of the franchise and they go beyond geographical boundaries, he says. “It is like we play all league games at home,” he added.
