I BELONG TO THE YELLOW BATTALION AND YOU?

                                    When the ubiquitous and the omnipresent  football crazy people, including few of my friends, who will always be  busy celebrating and eulogizing their best loved and sought after football clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Swansea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and what not? I, as a fervent and perpetual cricket fanatic and as a not so good football lover always longed for a cricketing club to be idolized and celebrated only after our Team India. When I see my friends posting Face book updates on the Barclays premier League matches and their favorite moments during the matches, I had always felt bad for not following football keenly until the Indian Premier League came into picture.

15 Men Carrying More than a Billion's Hope,Love and Expectation! My Yellow Army!

            Even before the Teams and the franchise got announced, the very idea of IPL brought an exultant ecstasy for a cricket crazy guy like me. Yes finally the team named “Chennai Super Kings” got announced. Having been born and brought up in Namma Chennai and when you instantaneously don’t start loving the “Chennai Super Kings” even before the player auction started, then trust me when I say this, there could have been a chance of a genetic disorder in you at that time.

Courtesy: The Official CSK Fan Page

           When the man with the Midas touch,Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named the captain of CSK and when you were still a part of India’s Detroit (“Singaara Chennai”) and when you still didn’t love “Chennai Super Kings” for any such reason for that sake, then for sure you were down with some serious genetic abnormality. Dhoni, Raina, Badri were the only Known Indian names at that time until Monk, Ashwin and Jakati became part and parcel of my lives and became mere equivalent to the guys next door, in the later IPL editions. It didn’t take much of a time later to call CSK as my Team rather than a team. Earlier I was only bleeding the men in blue (Team India), as days passed by, yellow sooner turned out to be my second most favorite color only after our Team India’s Blue. The Yellow isn’t just color it depicts optimism and cheerfulness blended with mind and the intellect.

We Celebrate here when they do... Don't we ?

             3,08,13,33,48,12,47,81,07,18,27,28,29 and 99 are not just numbers within 100 any longer; they are larger than pride and life for an ardent CSKian like me and billions and are our own a-mour Prop-re. If you don’t know what these numbers really are and exactly mean to you, come on my friend, you are not a diehard and an ardent Chennai Super King freak yet. You need to know what and why it really means a lot to know all these things and back yourself up and start cheering for our yellow battalion from this September 17 at the champion’s league 2013.You don’t get to be the IPL champions twice and the Champions of the Champions league unless you belong to the yellow battalion. Some say they love CSK only because of Dhoni, some say it is because of Raina,Hussey, Albie and  Some say it’s just because you have the name Chennai in it , I strongly feel that apart from all these convincing  factors there is something beyond all  these, that unites and bonds me and Chennai Super Kings.

Shouldn't we support them at least for this Gesture?

            As the saying goes “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Then winning many matches alongside winning the people’s heart is what you call the destiny. I and my friends being passionate about CSK is another story, the cutest part is that I have a nephew of mine who was just 9 years old and the way he loved and loves CSK and cricket at the age of 9 was just amazing and mind blowing. He was quite far in terms of distance  and there were numerous occasions where he had been texting me about the match’s statistics, important break throughs and the elegance of the players all throughout the CSK’s match day till the presentation gets over however late the night has turned out to be. I still remember his dad scolding him for Texting me from his mobile and for spending some 100 odd rupees only for those messages related to CSK. The cute reply from the kid “Appa Namma Ooru pa, Namma Chennai pa, Namma support pannalaena yaaru pa pannuva?!” (Dad it’s our city, our Chennai, if at all we don’t support them, then who will?) Stunned me for a while and brought an extempore smile upfront and gave me enough reasons to feel proud of being a CSKian.

May 17th , 2011



With the all Excited Yellow Army ahead of the Match :)

        I have seen CSK matches twice at the stadium. The first match which I saw was the one at the lion’s den (at the chepauk) with a gang of more than 15 all together. We were all pumped up and excited as we started our happiest journey a day earlier from Madurai on May 16^th 2011 for the match against KTK on May17th 2011 which was an 8 pm match. Going inside with the yellow jerseys, whistles, yellow head bands and yellow wrist bands was fun and a moment of pride that will always be cherished and etched in my memories apart from the CSK’s comprehensive win that night. The Mexican wave, the yellow stands, the thousands and thousands of people in yellow who turned out to the stadium were such a visual delight to watch.

This is for you My Team :)



Flying high with Pride amidst 2000 Houses at Bangalore!

         When stereo systems and the PA systems sang the song sung by suchitra  “Boys in yellow come out n play, Your goanna make them follow u lead the way – say, S-U-P-E-R K-I-N-G-S” I along the other crew members of the yellow army went berserk with goose bumps being incited many a times. The second was an encounter against the RCB in their home. It takes enormous Grit, Guts, Courage, bravery and what not? To wear the yellow jersey and to sit in the most local stand what we call (Thara Ticket in Chennai) and to shout out CSK, CSK amidst the plenty of local RCB supporters. I frankly confess that I got panicked when those people in red starred and gave me a scornful look and threw me a smug face for shouting and supporting CSK at one hell of a voice. I wondered if I would be hit and abused by them badly (Luckily I didn’t know their local language).

Right before the Start of the Match! Cheering out louder and Harder with whistles all the way from Madurai!

               Let us get in to why I love my team players. Casey Stengel once said “Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.” The story mentioned above had/have been perfectly narrated and executed by our captain Mahi to perfection many a times. We as a team have always outgrown individual performance and have learnt what team spirit and team confidence is all about and have brought excellence into reality not just once but thrice. Some one out of fun said “Teamwork is essential - it allows you to blame someone else”, we have a captain who is so very poignant in blaming himself and not blaming someone if at all the team loses. When you have a captain like Dhoni who saves runs at the back of the stumps and who safe guards and backs up the team in front of everyone when the team is subjected to destructive criticism it would not be fair when you don’t play to your fullest at least for such a graciously awesome captain Dhoni.

        Be it the mighty “Haydos” at the beginning of the IPL, be it the Agesless legend, Mr. Cricket and the Mr.Perfect “Michael Hussey”, May it be the Most elegant,live wire and the ever cool “Prince of Chennai” and the man with the most gentlest demeanor “Suresh Kumar Raina “ from whom one could very well learn what attitude is all about?, be it the ever cheerful and lively Brave heart “Bravo”, the so called “Sir”, Stylish Monk, Saviour Albie, the skiddy, tall “Ash(w)(sp)in”, Junior Mr.Cricket “Badri” and last but not the least “The Daring, Dashing, Selfless, cool, man of Attitude, ever smiling, Ravishingly cute, Captain Cool and the man who gave me what the real meaning of TEAM (Together Everyone Achieve Miracle) is! “Mahendra Singh Dhoni”. It takes a great deal and immense pleasure to support a team like this.

The Caption says it all !

"The Prince of Chennai" ! Ain't he?

         Winning and losing are part and parcel of any sport and is inevitable, Cricket isn’t an Exception. Yes I am disappointed along with a million others that my team didn’t win the IPL 2013. Remember yellow battalion, there is always a second time. Don’t get demoralized for winning is not everything and winning is just commitment as our captain once told and we guys mastered the art called “Commitment”. Trust me when I say this for an ardent cricket and a CSK fan like me, I take it for granted that God has rewarded me with an amazing destiny for the passion I have for the game of cricket and the love I have for my team CSK and it’s of no wonder the God had made me share my Birthday with that of the Ageless legend and Mr.Cricket “Michael Hussey” On 27^th of May.

The Leading Run Scorer in the IPL!

 People may Change, Time may Change, faith may deter, criticisms may be sky high, and haters may still keep growing exponentially! For all the joys, Jigs, soar throats and moments of pride that my team CSK has ever given me these 6 years, there is something that would never ever change the beautiful love, passion, the belief, the trust and the support I had/have and will ever have for my Team CSK and the game of cricket! A true fan would celebrate along with his team when his team wins and would stand by his team when his team is totally down after a loss or a destructive criticism! I am true fan and you?

Ain't he a super human apart from being a super King?

        As the saying goes, I am a member of my team, and I rely on my team, I Trust my team because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion”! I belong to the yellow battalion and you?