Chennai Chennai Superkings

The song for the Chennai superkings team is actually as follows:
“Yeh hai Chennai Chennai Superkings. Apna yellow jersey banke Sphinx! Will power badi hai jeet saamne khadi hai jeet toh Chennai ke moothi main hogi, Super kings, Super kings……”

There are certain things in your life that you will not forget. Certain moments encapsulated with the sounds, the people and the sheer electricity around that will remain entrenched in your brain. Just one magic glimpse back into it will rekindle each moment that made that day, that evening or night so unbelievably special, the IPL 3 finals at the DY Patil Stadium in 2010 was one such moment.

I had seen 3 IPL matches that season and surprisingly my team, the Chennai Super Kings made it to the finals to meet the local kingpins the Mumbai Indians, the best team in the tournament were Mumbai. And of all the things that I had on my mind, my engineering vivas, the incomplete final year project that I had to complete within a day, the most profound thing I did that week was to pick up friend’s call and say yes to extra tickets for the finals. The third tier with 60,000 people in the stadium. 55,000 were in blue the remaining in yellow. More strikingly my tier had just one yellow shirt, me.

The Chennai Super kings powered by Raina got off to slow start. Dhoni didn’t click nor did Hayden or Vijay and Morkel didn’t get too much time. Ten overs gone and the Tendulkar and Mumbai Indian’s mania was at its peak.

I was beginning to feel very alone out there. The stadiums in India have a peculiar buzz to them. They are unlike the loud European football crowd or the even louder vuvuzelas from South Africa. The sound that you here is that of plastic rattling. Bottles, those huge inflatable plastic balloons, anything plastic is made to make noise. Thump, thud and few more loud noises with a rhythm changing with the fluctuating fortunes of the Mumbai Indians.

Raina had other plans.The Chennai Super Kings swung it their way by hitting 80 in the last 7 overs. A respectable score ws reached and it was up to that great man Sachin Tendulkar to do it again.

The half time festivities included climbing down 6 stories to get coke and sandwiches and carefully come back again in time for the match. It didn’t help if your friend got along some of his other pals and they engaged in a very taunting and unhealthy grudge match since I supported Chennai.

MS Dhoni is the coolest guy ever. Put him in front of a toranado, a twister, an earthquake or even a political scandal he will come out unflinchingly. But Keiron Pollard smacked a big punch into my premature victory celebration. 34 runs in a single over, was enough to rejuvenate the stadium and dishearten me. So when Keiron Pollard almost took Mumbai home just to be denied by sharp captaincy I hailed the genius that was MS Dhoni, to keep a mid off and a long off, that was brilliant.

The Chennai team won and I went home a happy person. Sure I got stuck in traffic for 4 hours and got home in a car cramped with 8 people instead of 4, but hey it was worth it. Now contrary to what people say I do not think Pollard could have saved the day if he had come earlier down the order. He is a glorified one shot wonder and could not have possibly sustained his magnificent bat swing for more than 4 overs. Sachin could not be faulted for this. There are times in Sachin’s career that you think that God just doesn’t want Sachin to get more popular than him. The innings against Pakistan in Chennai where he almost chased the score down only to be denied by a spineless Indian tail, the 2003 world cup where he did everything to get India to the finals only to see the team paralyse with shock and not turn up on the match day or the more recent 174 against Australia where he pulled off a miracle only to see the team failing at the last hurdle. I think God is jealous and almost acts in these situations out of spite to deny Tendulkar even more glory than what he has obtained.

But the moment that defined the day was undoubtedly when for the first time in my life I whistled, howled and cheered the fall of Sachin Tendulkar. I mean 5000 people located 6 stories from the ground could have done some serious damage to my physical structure but I was elated to see Murali Vijay take that catch.

The stadium went into silence but my whistle kept blowing away to glory. Never thought I would say it, but boy was I glad to see Sachin get out.

The silence was the cue for me to chant the ultimate clichéd and cheesy eam song ever, Yeh hai Chennai Chennai Super Kings…..