Farewell to the God - Best of TENdulkar

Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement from ODI’s did not come as a surprise to me. After all, he has not been an active ODI player for quite some time now. But when I sit down and think about what we he achieved, my eyes fill with tears of pride. He has so made the format his own that now it’s possible to think if ODI’s itself is gonna retire with him. In a country that is obsessed with statistics more than performance, results more than playing a good game and individual performances celebrated above the team, he gave us reasons to do both. Talk about numbers while still amazed by the beauty of his batting, celebrate a victory while watching him talk about respecting his opponents and most of all, celebrate a Tendulkar century along with an Indian win. We explored the statistics to understand his genius. We read articles to understand his brilliance. In short, Sachin Tendulkar made an average Indian fan, better.

It is a monstrous task to compile ten of his best from a collection of 18000 runs and 49 centuries over 400 matches. I am sure a lot of you would disagree with my list, thinking how did u miss this, how can u miss that types. The list that I have put down here are the ones that simply sprout out of my mind when I saw the news of his retirement from ODI’s. No research & no thinking over, so some numbers may not be accurate. The Sachin Tendulkar Fan in me came up with it. I had combined a few performances in one, in a logical way to make room for others. Its Sachin, how can I not?

10. It’s not even a 50 but on what was once the highest chase in ODI’s, he blasted 40 odd runs in 20 odd balls against Pakistan in the Bangladesh independence Cup final in Dhaka, a rollicking start that culminated in Saurav Ganguly’s composed 124 and Kanithkar’s penultimate ball finish.

9. He was playing all sorts of role in the team when one day Azharuddin walked up to him and asked if he could open the batting. That offer changed the face of ODI’s forever. He blasted 79 of 41 against New Zealand and a superstar was born.

8. The great man has just lost his father and had to fly midway during the ’99 World Cup to perform the last duties. Most thought that his tournament was over, but the master came back and how! It may be against Kenya but his 143 in the match after his father’s passing was as important as any of his other. It showed how much he cared for his country. 

7. He was in indifferent form going into the final of the CB series in 2008 against Australia. But he took the grand finale by a calculated storm that did not decimate the Aussies, but rather destroyed them steadily. The Aussies might have had a stronger chance of getting him out if he was in marauding form. But instead, he chose to play the Anchorman, piling on runs at a fair clip and guiding an inexperienced batting to the finish. Both the century in the first final and the 91 in the second was a master-class.

6. It may be India's most embarrassing defeats, a forfeit, but still it was characterized as before and after Sachin. He made 65 out of the 125-8 that India managed in the world cup semifinal in '96 b4 the hostile crowd at Eden Gardens stopped the match. It seems like the pitch had two layers, one for Sachin and the other for the rest of the batsmen. Such was the gulf in class.

5. For all the great batting performances of the little genius, there is one over that showed how cool his temperament really is. That final over in the hero cup semifinal against SA was one of my earliest images of him, one that made me a worshipper of him. How can a top order batsman bowl a nerve wracking final over and win the match for India from a seemingly hopeless situation. I was very young and believed only god can do miracles. I wasn’t wrong.

4. It was a princess that waited for the right prince to come and conquer her. Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry came within sniffing distance of her. Sehwag was thought to be the man to marry it. But eventually, ODI's first double century was captured by the king of them all against an attack that had Steyn, Morkel and Ntini, a handful on any track. It was an innings of textbook perfection and clinical precision. Sehwag eventually bettered it. But this is first love. Need I say more?

3. This happened a few weeks before the 200. But fans were transported to decade before when Sachin single handedly won matches for India. Set a demanding 350 to win, he scored exactly half the runs and when he got out, so did India, just like the old times. But that 175 was so breathtaking that even left the Aussies dazzled.

2. Perhaps no other team challenged Australia like how Saurav's boys did in the last decade and perhaps no other player dominated them like how Sachin did in the decade before that. The 2 sandstorms that decimated Aussies in Sharjah '98 is part of cricketing folklore now. You may find this an exaggeration but to me, those 2 innings made him a legend of ODI's.

1. For all the centuries and a double century, this is the innings that still gives me the goose bumps when I think about it. How did he do all that? Playing Pakistan in pressure, more so if it’s in a World cup, and even more if playing for the first time in years. This was no stage for mortals or good players. The stage was set for only one man and how well he played. That 98 in the 2003 World cup is the best innings by Sachin Tendulkar in 23years. One shot stood out. A back foot cover drive off Wasim Akram  in the 10th over still leaves me speechless, even after watching it hundreds of times.

He defined the format, pulled the crowds to it and single handedly changed, not just of India’s fortunes, but the future of the game itself. And we all grew up with him. We were school kids when Sachin was decimating attacks in the 90’s singlehandedly, so he was the superstar. When we went to college in the 2000’s a certain Mr. Ganguly so dynamically changed Indian Cricket that Tendulkar went from one and only superstar to the greatest batsman of the golden quartet. As we understood the game better, he became a legend.

Farewell Sachin Tendulkar, albeit from colored clothing. We hope to see plenty of you in the whites, playing that breath taking straight drive, that audacious upper cut, that finest of leg glances or that ever so wonderful back foot cover drive. As a God, please inform the other one that created you that we said Thanks. We can say that we grew up and lived in the same time as the God of Cricket. Who else can?

London 2012 – Beginning of a new journey for Indian Athletes

“Be the change that you want to see”

                                          -M.K. Gandhi.

India is a country with great hopes. It hopes to be a superpower when it cannot stop a crumbling democratic system filled with INFLUENCED people. It is also a country that basks in its past glory for far too long refusing to move on. Yet it can surprise you with its resolve and talent. Indian sports, just like the county, is a bundle of talent but not quite up there with the best with what they simply call in cricket, “big match temperament”. The story of Indian athletes in the 30^th London Olympic Games is also the same.

India sent its largest contingent of players to the quadrennial event and returned with 6 medals. Is that good enough? Well, technically India equaled the no of medals it collected in 4 previous games in one event, but we still had a feeling that we could have done better. That we hoped for more medals itself a big step forward to a nation that always prays for one medal to prevent us from total embarrassment. Initiatives like the “Olympic Gold Quest” have been instrumental for the record tally. If we go in depth of the performance of Indian athletes, barring Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal and Sushil Kumar, very few lived up to their expectations. From Archery to Hockey, one can clearly see the lack of temperament when delivering at the grandest stage of them all. To me, Archery was the biggest disappointment. They had all the talent and training but none could even come closer to sniff a medal. So much for being descendents of Arjuna. Expecting a medal from hockey was outrageous but the way they played was an embarrassment for the 8 time Olympic champions. Move on you idiots. Hockey has ceased to playing in grass. It is artificial turf where organization plays an important and Indians play like they played in 1940’s. Grow up..! He’s never been as committed to the cause as he should have been and that could be the reason why he won’t be ranked among India’s finest sports persons. Gold in Beijing and failure to qualify for the final in London, Abhinav Bindra’s dad-influenced life style will only take him so much and his lack of committed training has cost him and the country.  But what he couldn’t, Gagan Narang did. He was always destined for Olympic success but his temperament kept failing him before. But with a steady improvement, he will make a bigger mark in Rio 2016. Yogheshwar Dutt and Vijay Kumar are the surprise packages. May be they had it in them and maybe it’s a good thing that they were not spotted by the media glare, but they made the difference between India’s lackluster performance and a commendable one. She is a supermom and now she is India’s super lady. M.C Mary Kom, finally got her rightful place in the hearts of Indian people. It’s bitter though, what an Olympic bronze could do what 5 world championship Gold could not. For long, Saina Nehwal is destiny’s child and she will continue to be at least till Rio. Critics may point out that she was lucky, but the very fact that the Chinese selected their Olympic women’s badminton team based on who beat Saina Nehwal previously, shows that she deserved the bronze. That Saina did not take the other girl from Hyderabad; Sania’s route has been good both for her and the nation. He may have lost to the World No 1 ranked player in the quarterfinals but P.Kashyap showed to the rest of the Indian contingent how to gain respect even while losing. So did the Indian male boxers, no dearth of effort from them. They had been unlucky too. Indian Tennis embarrassed itself in front of the world even before the games and its best not to talk about it. So finally, the man who held the flag aloft in the opening ceremony did the same on the final day. Sushil Kumar will go down as one of India’s greatest athletes and a true inspiration for generations of sportspersons. He surprised everyone with a bronze in Beijing and proved to be no flash in the pan which a better showing in London. But for a freak injury, he could have achieved the pinnacle. But the way he handled himself in these 4 years speaks volumes of the man. Expect big things from him in the future.

Most of us would have read anarticle in the Hindu by Nirmal Shekar. I beg to differ with the author on most parts. True we are a Cricket mad country but things are changing now. We spoke more about the Games rather than the India-SL series in social networking which we would not have under normal circumstances. With cricket getting cheaper and cheaper by the year, the interest is naturally shifting and there was a wave of interest for the Olympics this time unlike any time before. In the midst of this wave of hope, Shekar comes up with an article which was intended to do one thing and one thing only, to sell. He talks about how Mary Kom would be running pillar to post for gas cylinders and Yogeshwar walking to a tea stall. With plaudits and prize moneys pouring in for the athletes, Yogheshwar can own a coffee shop and Mary, a life time supply of gas. What I hated was the fact that in times of hope, here’s someone who starts to lament again. It takes quite a bit to beat a beast like Cricket but hey, David did slay Goliath isn’t it? In a way, Nirmal is helping Cricket in hindsight by keeping the focus on it rather than the medal winners. He could do well to read Gandhi’s famous caption that I’ve quoted. We have to embrace the winners, criticize the losers and talk about these sports nonstop just like how we do for Cricket. The athletes need out support as much as we need them to win medals. The ovation that the medals winners and the glorious losers got on their arrival showed people are ready to accept the change. Move on Mr Shekar, go whine about it in solitude.

I guess India will not dominate Olympics or World sports anytime soon or anytime later. However they can start by fine tuning the disciplines that they are doing well. India should dominate in Boxing, Wrestling, Shooting and Archery like how China does it in Badminton, Table Tennis, Water sports, Weight lifting and Gymnastics. Hockey needs to start from the absolute scratch and I don’t see miracles happening in Tennis or Track and Field. But Rio 2016 will be even more hopeful, even more exciting and even more fulfilling for India. I say this with optimism and with belief that India will sort out its problems with temperament. And none of this would be possible without us talking about it. Let’s keep the flame burning..!

The Dark Knight Rises - How far..?

There are movies that entertain you. There are movies that enlighten you. But there are very few movies that does both, by taking us on a magical journey and lets us experience what's going on in the screen, in our minds as well. The architects behind these spectacles are its screenwriters who bond the audience to these movies with an emotional string. Of late, these amazing writers are few and far in-between. Christopher and Jonathan Nolan are two men who has turned the art of screenwriting to a altogether new level. So before I begin my candid take on the epic conclusion to the Batman trilogy, I salute the architects who are changing our movie viewing experience for the better. Take a bow masters. But, have they scripted the perfect ending?

The Dark Knight rises is about how Batman comes back from self imposed exile to counter his nemesis, albeit in the physical sense, Bane. It shows how, a superhero having sent to the deepest dungeons and crushed both in body and soul, somehow reinvents himself to come back and save the greatest city on earth. But beyond the action, what this movie does is to question not only each pivotal character of the movie, but also the audience. When we leave the theater we are invariably drawn into a conversation not only with our friends but also within ourselves trying to find answers to those disturbing questions. It forces you to answer questions like, “What have you done for you to be saved?”. Think a bit on the cynical side and you will agree to the methods of Bane and Talia and Ras Al Ghul to restore stability to the world. That’s the kind of world that Nolan transports you to. He is one of those rare breed of directors who takes the center stage in his movies instead of his lead actors and that’s the power of good script writing. The movie has got each character having their own personal struggle to the larger one they were all facing. Bruce Wayne’s inability to get over the loss of her beloved Rachel, Alfred’s failure to take care of Bruce like the way he promised his parents, Selina’s wanting to get a new start but finding no way out, Gordon’s struggles of having to live with a lie for 8 years even if it’s for a greater cause was all masterfully interlinked to the screenplay. It proves a simple fact that you cannot protect a lie for long, not even by the strongest of hearts and that truth has to be told, even though it is bitter to swallow. Nolan also ponders into the politics of all by choosing to stage Bane’s attacks in two very distinctive places, a stock exchange and a sports field, two big money dwelling spots. That’s pure genius. Having said that, as disturbing as the movie is, it is not without its flaws either.

Now, I am no critic and being a fan of Nolan myself, its hard to come down on your favorite director but there were a few things that was a bit of a letdown in this epic finale. The Dark Knight was magnificent because of the tight plot and breathtaking performances. The finale lacked both, albeit only just. But since the bar was raised so high in the previous movie, it looked like a gaping hole. Screenplay was flat for most of the times with Nolan’s usual wise grip missing. Not to compare with the magnificent Heath Ledger, Tom Hardy had much less to improvise on his character, albeit through his eyes and body language. A wonderful actor as he is, he manages to do justice to the role if not set the stage on fire. It is the conversations between Bane and Batman that was a put down. Knowing Nolan, I was expecting it to be no less than legendary but not to be. And Bane’s motives, I thought, were flawed too. He set out to give the power to the people of Gotham but how? Rounding out thugs from prison to raise your army is so not the start. If it was shown that Bane did convince the less privileged people of Gotham to fight for him and the cause, that would have made for an intriguing climax. How would Batman fight against a man who is fighting for the people? But sadly, there was no meaning to his motive of “Giving the power of Gotham to its people” and in the end, it almost seemed too obvious that everybody was waiting for Batman to come and rescue them. There was one small scene that took me by surprise. In the end, in Florence, Alfred watches, smiles and nods to Bruce Wayne sitting with Selina Kyle. Nolan would actually finish with a smiling Alfred leaving the imagination to us like how he closed before Dicaprio's totem before it stopped spinning in Inception.

I don’t want to bitch anymore about a trilogy that set our brain sensors ringing. Rarely you will find people talk about movies like how they talk about Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. The Lord of the Rings were a different beast, but this is one series that you can talk, analyze or even do a PHD on. The scope that it showed was enormous. The casting and crew went a long way in making all this magic happen. Christian Bale grew into Batman in every installment and in the final, he has given a performance that can even land a first ever best actor for a portraying a superhero. He is now the reference for any actor portraying Batman. Tom Hardy was an inspired choice as Bane and Nolan’s liking for Michael Caine will never vanish and rightfully so. Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman proved their veteran qualities yet again and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was neat as usual. The biggest surprise is Anne Hathaway who excels in her role as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She did well not to refer to Halle Berry’s disastrous earlier attempt. Marion Cotillard is on her way to become one of the best female actors and TDKR gives her scope to get the best of her. The revealing of Talia and Robin were straight out of Nolan’s script book. Two chief technical people, Wally Pfister with his breathtaking photography and Hans Zimmer with his awe-inspiring music takes TDKR to the next level.

I don’t want to indulge so much into the theory I gave earlier on Facebook that I would have prefer an order as Batman Begins-The Dark Knight Rises-The Dark Knight for the trilogy. I know it sounds stupid outright but I am not without my reasons. I am not suggesting a scene to scene ordering here. Think of it this way. Batman Begins with evil genius Ras Al Ghul and motives followed by Talia attempts to fulfill her father’s destiny with the help of Bane in TDKR. When Gotham was saved from these physical ravages comes the threat to its very soul from the Joker which when thwarted by Batman, makes Gotham a city resilient to attacks both on its body and soul, making it a model city. Stupid or not, it is a tribute to Christopher Nolan that he made me think that way.

So, The Dark Knight Rises - Only just.

Billa II Review - Incomplete

Ajith is an enigma. He can surprise and frustrate you at will. He commands a fan following that makes a lot of other actors jealous. Yet, you can say that he rarely lives up to his true potential as an actor par excellence. Billa-II is one of those movies where you feel incomplete when you come out of the theater. There is an overwhelming feeling that his movies must become a hit because you just love him both as an actor and as a person.

Billa II tracks the early life of David Billa from humble beginnings to a don. It is a one line that requires a lot of conviction to pull off as a successful script. I think this is where Ajith made the biggest mistake of going for an untried director who was a “Credits Only” pet dog director for Kamal Hassan in Unnaipol Oruvan. Sure Ajith had creative differences with Vishnuvardhan, but he could have gone for an experienced hand in a prequel of this magnitude. Overall, there was something missing in everything. Editing, casting, placement of songs, romance and even the stunts pleaded for better handling. Chakri Toleti’s inexperience showed in every frame.

With no disrespects to Superstar Rajnikanth, Ajith has made the character David Billa synonymous to him. He has made a successful franchise out of David Billa, a bit like James Bond I’d say with theme music, costumes, and women and of course style. He looks ravishing despite the generous waist line (I don’t understand why some people can’t accept slightly heavy dons). His screen presence is next only to the superstar himself. He has proved once again how he can single handedly carry a movie on his shoulders and is one of the best ever in doing roles with negative shades. He emotes well and as always is at home in action sequences. It is hard to be a critic of his acting because he is a bloody good actor. Some people question his rather tedious sounding dialogue delivery, but then I don’t think anybody expects a don to talk like Govinda either. There is one thing I have noticed in his recent movies. Be it Mankatha or Billa, there is glamour all around him and yet he is oblivious to it. I wonder if he does this intentionally.

Parvathy Omanakuttan makes me wonder how she got till the finals of the Miss World Pageant. Bruna Abdullah looks ravishing but hardly any scene to flaunt her curves or any conviction of her characterization. Sudhanshu Pandey is convincing as a cool and calculating don but the biggest surprise is Vidyut Jamwal. Neither does he fit in as an East European Don nor does he has screen time to make a serious impact. These are the sort of tactical blunders that gives you an incomplete feel.

RD Rajasekar and Yuvan Shankar Raja gives you two good reasons (Movie’s a bit short of it) to watch the movie. National Award winning editor Suresh Urs is a bit of a letdown. May be he didn’t have so much to play with. Stunt choreography is like the movie, incomplete with palpable logical holes. The much hyped climax helicopter stunt also failed to live up to the hype. But I liked the raw nature of action, the no holds barred style that is synonymous with ruthless dons. Also new to Tamil Cinema is the “Guy Ritchie” type of black & white scenes in the “Unakkul Mirugam” song. But a few flashes of brilliance cannot undermine a meteor hole that is the screenplay.

Overall, it is the same frustrating case of “What If?” that is getting synonymous with Ajith’s movies of late. It is watchable unlike his earlier duds like Aegon or Asal. Ajith won’t lose a fan out of this because Thala fans will have their money’s worth because he’s in almost every frame. But what could have been a tight action movie turned out be a laborious and out of direction, literally and otherwise.

What makes Wimbledon great?

Sport has a way with human emotions. It transcends geographical boundaries and let people enjoy and adore such great athletes with amazement. There are tournaments that are crown jewels in every sport and lift that particular sport by a few notches. Every football player who trades his wits in Europe wants to play in the Champions League. In Cricket, it’s about being part of a World Cup winning team. Wimbledon is one such event that catches the breath of the tennis world. You may be a winner of 3 other grand slams and World No 1 but you are not regarded as great until you walk out SW19 as Wimbledon Champion.

So what makes Wimbledon special? Is it the place, the royals, the whites or the strawberries? The same set of players who compete in Wimbledon battle week in week out for the rest of the year. But why do great Champions cry in the post match presentation only at Wimbledon? What makes such legends like Sampras and Federer even at 30 years of age and 6 titles already in the kitty, come back and win it like it was their first? Why this romance with the tournament which first started as a fundraiser?

When I first started watching Wimbledon, it was a time when Pate Sampras took over the baton from Boris Becker. When Pistol Pete, with his cool demeanor and a vibrant smile, broke down in the post match presentation, I wondered why a sports person would cry for winning a tournament. But it took me 9 years to know the answer when Goran Ivanisevic’s near impossible journey from a wild card ended as the new Wimbledon champion.

When you look at someone like Sampras and Federer in Wimbledon, you know that they are destined to be great champions there. Everything about them is Wimbledon. Quality. Classic. Elegant. It was almost like a long decided arranged marriage, always meant to happen. But Ivanisevic’s was a love story of theatrical content. Before the final I was not thinking too much of Ivanisevic but by the third set in the final I was fully behind him and when he won even I had a bit of a tear in my eyes. I didn’t know why but I realized that it’s something special. His relentless pursuit to be a Wimbledon Champion showed why this is such a prestigious tournament.

One of the reasons that I love Wimbledon was the fact that it encourages Serve and Volley. In other grand slams, you don’t really notice the beauty of moving around the court like here in the lawns of SW19. And it broke my heart when such a wonderful expert of serve and volley like Pat Rafter never won at Wimbledon. It also explains why someone like Ivan Lendl, a wonderful player otherwise, also never won the championships. Lendl was a force from the baseline but never good at the net and that cost him two finals. It takes a great player to master the uneven and sometimes nasty bounce of the grass and no wonder Wimbledon Champions were regarded as greats. It’s what separates the men from the boys. Today tennis has changed to a more baseline play than approaching the net. The Australian Open produces slug fest every year with long matches but if you look closely, you will realize that fewer players approach the net to cut down the risk. But is that good tennis? I don’t think so. To me, it’s a horrible site to see men playing double handed backhand. I will go any day to watch Federer and Sampras play against each other and create masterful angles with their single handed backhands than a Djokovic – Nadal slug fest. Women’s tennis is even worse in this which explains why I like players like Navaratilova, Graff and Justine Henin-Hardenne. It’s a pity that Henin never won at Wimbledon despite that beautiful backhand which prompted John McEnroe to comment that it was on par with the men’s.

Now, as Federer masterfully captured a record equaling 7^th Wimbledon gentleman’s Singles Championship and Serena Williams her 5^th, we take stock of what’s in store for the future of tennis. Sure the future of tennis looks good with the likes of Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. Women’s tennis, though has become a mostly two set contests, still manage to produce good players and beautiful players to keep it going.

But are these players capable of being the great if not the greatest? When Boris retired Sampras rose and Federer took over after that ‘passing the torch’ 4^th round match in 2001. But invariably we knew that it was passed from one great player to another. Now who is there to claim it from Federer? Is men’s tennis going to become like the women’s where a new world no 1 emerges every few weeks just because there are no great players left? Are we going to be satisfied with baseline slug fest experts winning Wimbledon when there are no artistic masters left? Who is going to use the tennis racquet as a paint brush? Whoever does will make this great game even greater! Even Roger Federer would not want history to remember him as the last great player of the game. But until then, enjoy that awe inspiring tennis that the legend produces for you may see too few and too far once he retires.

10 reasons why I like the Chennai Super Kings

There is a lot of bullshitting about the Chennai Super Kings over HOW they make it to the playoffs every season. N Srinivasan scripts all of CSK’s wins from his bathroom, politics, blah blah blah. While there is no denying that the IPL is full of controversy, why is that CSK always paraded as the team to hate just because they are so good? Now, I am from the same state but that’s not the reason why I like the CSK. So for all the losers who hate CSK, read this if you have any idea how a premier league has to be played. For those who love CSK, here are ten seasons to know why. 

1. CSK is the only team to embrace the concept of a domestic league in the right way. There is a very CHENNAI flavor in every aspect of CSK. The ‘Whistle Podu’ theme BELONGS to Chennai. Isn’t there one flavor that you can connect to a Mumbai or a Kolkatta or a Jaipur? Do Punjabis really need Priety Zinta to dance for them..? What crap?

2. CSK is the only team to have embraced the concept of a club properly. Faf Du Plessis was an unknown when CSK signed him 2 years ago. Now he’s our leading scorer. That’s what successful EPL teams to. That’s what we do.

3. The dressing room of CSK is widely known as the happiest of all if IPL teams. The pranks, the way newcomers are made comfortable is a mark of great teams.

4. When CSK plays and a batsman hits a four, they don’t have to show Shah Rukh Khan clapping, when a six is hit, they don’t have to show the Shetty sisters hugging or when a batsman gets out they don’t have to show Priety Zinta cussing and discussing STRATEGY with the coach. It’s strictly the players and the fans and that’s how it should be. The lesser the distractions, the better the team.

5. After the recent incident involving Shah Rukh Khan at the Wankhede Stadium, Juhi Chawla was quoted as saying “If today Shah Rukh Khan were to get upset and quit the IPL I wonder if there'd be any people watching the matches... in Wankhede or any stadium.”  Seriously, if Wankhede comes to watch Shah Rukh Khan rather than Sachin’s batting, then God save cricket.

6.  Despite the dash of IPL, Chennai still and will remain the most knowledgeable of all crowds in India. That’s a mark of fans who will remain loyal to CSK all life. If you think about it you will understand what I am saying. Remember, Sachin was booed once in Mumbai. That will never happen to any cricketer in Chennai (Except Virat Kohli when he plays for RCB)

7. As a team, CSK is not dependent on one player like how RCB have in Gayle and Kolkatta in Gambir. Every time we find some player finishing it in tight situations. Morkel, Bravo, Dhoni, it’s a finishing line up to dream.

8. One of the most important factors is how well the local lads and generally the Indian players have played for us. Vijay, Badri, Anirudha, Ashwin and Balaji have all won games for us. Name one team that has so many local lads in their team and doing well. Add to that Raina and Dhoni. So the over dependence on overseas players is negated in CSK.

9. Harsha Bhogle tweeted this after the last season win he said “Eventually the best team, the best organized, the best selected and the best led won the IPL and that is how it should be”. Need anything more to say.

10. Actually, there is one more thing to say… “We are the Bloody Champs” Grow Up you losers!

Distracters talk about N Srinivasan’s role in the team and his influence as the BCCI’s big fish. Let me clarify. His India Cements Company is involved with cricket for 60 years now. They are responsible for bringing up players like Rahul Dravid. So here’s the thing… N Srinivasan is the president of the most powerful cricket board in the world. Would u credit every Indian Win as his script?

The truth is CSK, even for IPL’s short history has to go through these phases like how great teams go through. Barcelona is constantly accused of diving despite the beautiful football they play. The Australian Cricket Team was accused of too much sledging when they dominated world cricket. But didn’t they change the way cricket was played? Like those great teams, we will endure and play the way like only we can and whistle the way like only we can. Go CSK Go..!