My journey with CSK!

 Its been 13 years since I started following the IPL and specifically Chennai Super Kings. As a student preparing for his 12th standard exams, my lasting memory of that year is not writing the IIT exam; it is the moment when my mother took me to a Landmark store to get me a season ticket for just Rs. 1200 (for 7 matches). 

As a kid, I had always been fascinated by the multi-nation matches such as Asia XI vs. Africa XI or Australia vs. Rest of world. It was even more fascinating to think that Sachin Tendulkar could line up along Jayasuriya but against a combination of Ganguly and Ponting. Remarkable as it now seems, many people was pretty sceptical about IPL's success in its inaugral season. BCCI were marketing the product aggressively with tie-ups with various retail outlets and constant advertising on newspapers (as a tamil, Set Max was a channel only used for cricket and nothing else really)

The IPL auctions arrived and I was absolutely thrilled that CSK managed to buy MS Dhoni who would go on to be the best signing the franchise ever made. The signings of Albie Morkel and Jacob Oram signified that this is a team management who were forward thinking with respect to T20s. After the overall auction, the overwhelming feeling was that CSK had selected a good team and would be in contention for the top 4 sides especially after seeing teams of RCB and Rajasthan Royals (Little did I know that they would be our achilles heel)

It was the day before the initial game that as a kid, I had recharged the Set Top Box and kept it ready in advance so that we faced no glitches. I still had many more exams to go and my brother was the fortunate one to go to the game in Chepauk for that game. I missed the second and third home games as well though was avidly following it on TV.

My first opportunity to watch an IPL game was when CSK plays Deccan Chargers. With season ticket in hand, I watched another 3 home games before the home season for CSK was over. These games were watched alone in the stands but as is the home support at Chennai, you are never really alone and you end up cheering with a lot of random strangers. 

That hat-trick of L Balaji against Kings XI was the first time I actually celebrated as though my team won and the journey from being an observer to a CSK supporter was complete at that very moment. With 40,000 odd fans cheering and a team sporting my home city's name and colors, what's not to like about it.  MSD accepting the franchise as his own was the boost that every CSK fan needed and it came soon enough.

Its been 13 years (of which 2 years were without the franchise) of supporting the franchise and most of the sweet moments of the franchise can be tied back with my personal life. The ecstasy of celebrating that MSD six off Irfan Pathan within the common room of my engineering hostel and then showing off in front of the frustrated Punjabi supporters, Mike Hussey's amazing performances in the next year to achieve consecutive IPLs, the comeback season in 2018, the heartbreak of Shane Watson in 2019 and so on. 

With only 10 days to go for what is probably MS Dhoni's last dance with CSK, I thought to start a blog to detail out my thoughts on the team and add in a post or two on how it has influenced my journey as well.