IPL 2018 | The return of Whistle Podu - Chennai fans dreams have finally come true

IPL 2018 | The return of Whistle Podu - Chennai fans dreams have finally come true

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There is something special about Chennai and its people. The Tamilians are a very close group and maybe it is because of their distinct culture that they might sometimes come off as rude. But, when they do accept something or someone as one of their own, they are known to be loyal to a fault.

The city epitomizes everything local about them and no wonder they are the most misunderstood lot to the other stateā€™s natives. However, when it comes to the local pride, probably not many things have given them a sense of intimacy as much as the Chennai Super Kings, just as Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan are theirs, only theirs. And, when the floodlights would illuminate the night sky splendidly near the Marina beach, the sea of yellow would paint the road from the Buckingham canal to the Triplicane temple to turn up on big numbers each and every time MS Dhoni and co. stepped on the field, and then Chennai becomes a surreal place to live in.

How could you explain the emotion that would be overflowing in the teamā€™s die-hard fanbase as their very own CSK has finally returned to the league after a gap of two years? Or how could you tell someone in Chennai the pain of waiting for two years to shout the name of "Thala"Ā at the top of their lungs which would make the Chepauk arena would reverberate to its very roots.Ā 

Any franchise sport, or their teams for that matter, survive on individual tales of brilliance or a team show of grit and class. It is very difficult for any team to sustain long without catching the imagination of fans irrespective of all the gloss and glamour that surrounds it. And Chennai, unlike some of the counterparts in the Indian Premier League, understood this concept right from the get-go and over the first eight seasons of the IPL, the franchise built itself into an institution thanks to their larger foresight and the confidence in their core team. So now as the team has returned for the 11th edition of the IPL, one would expect them to crank up the volume and scream in relentless excitement.

However, the world has changed a lot since they played for the last time. The larger-than-life character that is MS Dhoni is now a pale shadow of his former illustrious self and the once undisputed leader of the Indian side has made way for Virat Kohli to be the new heartthrob of the nation. Suresh Raina, the IPLā€™s highest run-scorer,Ā and a World Cup winner, is searching for his place in the Indian cricket and Ravindra Jadeja, the one-time confidante of his skipper, has found himself out of the radar in the Indian limited-overs plans, but as things stand the trio have been reunited to don that blazing yellow shirt once again.Ā 

But if you would think, even for a second, that the management's decisions have affected the team's popularity among the Chennai fans, you would be grossly mistaken. It is a matter of fact that MS Dhoni'sĀ entire career has been under the microscope and the weight of expectations only increased with time. The problem of the advancing years has also got to him, especially in the shortest version of the game in which his strike-rate has alarmingly dropped. From the ultimate finisher, Dhoni has transformed into a stabilising force in the team and although he is still capable of showcasing the glimpses of his glory days once in a while, "Thala" is no longer the same guy who can consistently launch himself into a vintage display of ball-bashing that would put the fear of god into his opponents.

However, given the way the Chennai Super Kings adopted their old strategy of sticking to the core at the auction, the fans would not have any giant-size expectations from this yearā€™s IPL, but they have been spoilt enough having made it to the knockout stages of the IPL every single season that they have graced so far and that might put pressure on their skipper of not letting their fans down. And that makes the matter more interesting.

Like most IPL teams, Chennai's traditional success formula has revolved around a core group of players, which along with solid support from the rest of the line-up, has helped the team progress from strength to strength. But, on the auction table at a plush hotel in Bengaluru, they seemed to have forgotten that the core they were accumulating mostly out of form and their performance has all been reversed from a statement of ā€œThey canā€ to a question of ā€œCan they?ā€Ā 

For Raina, his inexplicable loss of form and the emergence of the likes of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya in the Indian cricketing milieu, appeared to have brought an end to a career which had moments that will live in the minds of fans for a lifetime, but he got anĀ opportunity out of the blue after being recalled to the Indian team for the South Africa T20I series and the Nidahas Trophy. And who knows, the narrative may flip once again, as it did for Yuvraj Singh in 2016-17 Ranji season, and Raina, a short-format batsman extraordinaire,Ā could be on the plane for the World Cup in 2019. And on the face of it, he has all the reasons to go out to the middle to roll back the years, because well, he is a legend in the IPL.Ā 

This season also holds special significance for Jadeja, who was picked as the third player in the team, even ahead of hometown hero Ravichandran Ashwin, who is inarguably the most successful cricketer from Tamil Nadu to have played for India. He is still a vital member of the Indian Test team, but has been found to be surplus to the limited-overs sides for the country. He will have a chance to redeem himself and make a statement of ā€œintentā€ that his current national skipper is so desperate to see.Ā 

The likes of Harbhajan Singh and Dwayne Bravo have bigger fish to fry than just performing to stay in contention for the years to come. As a cascading consequence of the 2013 betting scandal, the CSK management now finds itself without theĀ strength that had helped them put in a rocking pedestal and the bowling duoā€™s contribution will be helpful in the teamā€™s chances in the tournament. However, a vastly inexperienced bowling department could prove to be the decisive factor, especially in close matches.Ā 

However, for all the uncertainty ahead and as the IPL comes around to the streets of Chennai once again, it is time for the CSK fans to grab that yellow jersey, that had rested at the back of the closet for a couple of years, once again and paint up the Mount Road with the enthusiasm that was missing for quite a time now. Will CSK, however, be able to do an encore of what they had been doing for eight years. Well, your guess is as good as mine!

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