'Best franchise' CSK braces for doomsday

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 30 November 2014 | 21.24

CHENNAI: When fans went back home on the balmy summer night of May 14, 2013, happy that Chennai Super Kings had won another game (against Delhi Daredevils by 33 runs), little did they know that it could have been the last time that they saw their beloved yellow submarine at Chepauk.

CSK never returned to Chepauk, courtesy the Sri Lanka controversy, and now they are on the verge of being ousted from IPL itself. Till 2013, the low-profile CSK team principal, Gurunath Meiyappan, was virtually a non-entity in the eye of the fans; but in one-and-a-half years, he has emerged as the villain of the piece for Chennaiites.

Despite all the controversies around it, there's no denying that the franchise had been the most consistent team of IPL in its seven seasons so far. They won the title twice, played three more finals, and made the semifinals of every edition. It's this consistency that has attracted more than two dozen sponsors, including well-known names such as Aircel, Gulf Oil, Amazon.in, UST Global, Reebok and 7Up.

The company, which is a subsidiary of India Cements Limited, reported a revenue of Rs 166 crore in 2013-14. Brendon McCullum, the new entrant in CSK ranks, told TOI a few days back how well-run the team is. "The owners of the team know their cricket and that shows in our performance. There's never any undue pressure on us," McCullum, who had played for two other franchises, had said.

It's CSK's excellent work ethic that helped turn around quite a few careers. Suresh Raina, who was out of the Indian team for quite a while, found a fresh lease of life after he joined CSK. "Raina was young, while I was coming back from an injury. The way the CSK management nurtured us, helped in our comebacks, is truly remarkable. It will be a great loss for cricket if CSK are thrown out of IPL," former India paceman L Balaji said. Balaji played the first three seasons for CSK followed by three in KKR and now he is in Kings XI Punjab. "I can tell you that CSK is the best franchise that I have played for," Balaji said.

Skipper MS Dhoni's legendary finishing skills, that helped India win the 2011 World Cup, have been on display for CSK since 2008. By his own admission, it was Dhoni's experience of playing Muttiah Muralitharan at the CSK nets that prompted him to go out at No. 4 and negate the spinner in the World Cup final.

CSK, over the years, went on to become the best T20 unit and the two Champions League triumphs are testimony to that. But it's not just about their success on the field that makes CSK such a popular brand. They organize a multi-sport corporate tournament called CSK Super Cup, which is a big hit in Chennai. "It covers chess, cricket, badminton, table tennis, snooker, etc...In addition to that we also organize a Junior Super Kings inter-school tournament in the districts which helps us find new players for the state," a CSK official said.

But going by Thursday's Supreme Court observations, all that might come to an end and the well-nurtured fan-base of CSK might have to find another team to root for in the days to come.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Supreme Court,IPL,India Cements Limited,Gurunath Meiyappan,Chennai Super Kings

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