Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni greets fans after CSK defeated Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League 2023 final match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. , Photo credit: The Hindu
TeaThe Indian Premier League (IPL), by design, doesn’t lend itself to fanfare like European football. Even after 16 long years of the tournament, allegiances are mostly fluid and emotional connect with a team still lacks intensity. This is probably because the show is largely controlled by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which believes that costume changes and changes are necessary to maintain the competitive balance from periodic auctions.
Some venues have specified home and away stands, and fan songs, if any, are still in the realm of imagination. Venues for marquee play-off matches are decided before teams qualify, reducing the potential for biased crowd-building. In fact, after each contest, the most marketed images are of rival players sharing a good laugh. Thus the overall desire is to sell a high-quality entertainment package every evening, nothing more.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and its over-emotional support base are against the idea. If the galleries at the iconic Chepauk stadium resemble a sea of yellow, games at neutral venues are not without CSK oases. In Bengaluru, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in India, it can be safely said that CSK has as many fans as Royal Challengers Bangalore. People have imbibed this to such an extent that journalists in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, the two places where I have covered matches, have always concluded that CSK fans outnumber the locals.
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The only person responsible for this kind of madness is MS Dhoni. Dhoni has occupied the top spot in the CSK totem pole ever since the franchise broke the bank to sign him for a then record $1.5 million in the first auction of 2008. It doesn’t matter that he is from Ranchi and can speak Tamil at most. In a region where sub-nationalist identities shaped by language are strong, the affection for Dhoni is organic. I have seen many people who genuinely believe that if Dhoni ever contests the parliamentary elections in Chennai, he will be elected unopposed.
This bond was recently reflected in the crowd of supporters at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the IPL final against Gujarat Titans. There is a good chance that there were more Tamils per square meter in Ahmedabad than anywhere outside Tamil Nadu that weekend. There was no drop in skyrocketing Chennai-Ahmedabad flight ticket fares as some of the fans I spoke to went to Vadodara and then traveled by road to watch the match. Even when the tie slipped into Reserve Day because of torrential rain, most of them came back, spending thousands to reschedule their flights and hotel bookings. the reward was looking for them Thala (Leader) lifted his fifth IPL trophy as captain.
Anticipation also ran high before every match Dhoni played as there were fears that the veteran, who will soon turn 42, would hang up his boots. After all this is a man who announced his retirement from limited overs international cricket on Instagram. In what new way will he draw the curtains now? After that, CSK Chinna Thala (deputy) Suresh Raina followed, within minutes of Dhoni also retiring on Instagram. Who was he going to drag now?
But the way Dhoni cheered up his fans by promising that he would try and come back next season displayed the high point of mutual love. “I think it started here [Ahmedabad] when i was playing the first game [of IPL 2023]he said after the title win on Tuesday. “I just stepped out and the whole house was chanting my name. brought tears to my eyes [tears], Something similar happened in Chennai as well. It would be nice to come back and play.” Retired or not, Chennai’s most famous adopted son will live on till eternity.
sudarshan.narayanan@thehindu.co.in