Key TN ICL Players Missing in CSK Squad

Who will decide the winner of IPL Season 3? Will it again be the captains like in IPL Season 1? Or a player will make a difference single-handedly? If somebody asks for my vote, I would have voted for the contingent of Indian ICL Players who will be playing in Indian Premier League for the first time.

Sudden flow of talent would have easily tilted the scales in favor of the team that signed the best ICL players. I wanted that team to be Chennai Super Kings. Especially I was expecting VB to use this opportunity to address the two key problems in the team

1. Lack of Explosive Indian Opening Batsman
2. Lack of a Stand-out Indian Fast/Medium Bowler

ICL Players in CSK Squad

But sadly the team has signed on Badani – A Middle Order Batsman & Ganapathy – Bowling all-rounder coming on the back of a good domestic season. But let us not kid ourself by thinking that these players would make a difference to the team. Other than being present in the team sheet, these two new signings are not expected to play any role for the team in the field.

Whom I wanted?

1. Vignesh
2. Kumaran

I would have expected the team to sign Vignesh, the explosive TN Opening Batsman on whose performance TN won India’s first domestic T20 event. I also expected the team to sign Kumaran, the standout performers of ICL Chennai Superstar. Sadly, Vignesh has been latched by KKR while Kumaran is not figuring in any of the team’s sheets.

Whom among Indian ICL Players did you expect Chennai Super Kings to sign?

Michael Hussey to Miss IPL

On the background of the doubts regarding the availability of Oram for IPL, another blow has struck Chennai Super Kings Fans. Michael Hussey announced today that he is going to pull himself out of this IPL Season in an effort to reinvigorate himself ahead of the Ashes. Though Hussey could have attended the last two weeks of IPL, he has decided to take a much needed rest for his body and mind.

On hearing the news, V B Chandrasekar commented that

"It is a big disappointment for us, but we have got to respect his need to take rest. No doubt, we will miss him a lot. He was expected to play from the ninth game onwards and play a crucial role. Flintoff leaves by then and we thought, if the bowling gets weakened a bit, our battig would have got stronger."

Disappointed with Hussey's Decision, post your views in Chennai Super Kings Fan Forum or write your comments below.

News Update

Kasi Viswanathan of the Super Kings asserted that there has no official communication from Hussey regarding his reported non-availability. Though Hussey has informed the management about being a little late than other Australian international players, he has not yet officially communicated the unavailability for the entire tournament.

News Source: Cricinfo

Port Elizabeth to Support Chennai Super Kings

Great News! There is going to be another huge addition to ever growing Chennai Super Kings Fans. People from Port Elizabeth were looking for the opportunity to identify with a certain franchise and adopt them as their own. So Alvin Reeves, Chief Sports Reporter of The Herald took upon himself to pick out the team that Port Elizabeth should support.

"Chennai Super Kings will feature in four of the seven matches to be played at Sahara Oval St. George's. So if PE folks are looking for a team to support, the Super Kings would be the logical choice. What's more, they will have players like Muttiah Muralitharan, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Jacob Oram, Stephen Fleming and Andrew Flintoff as their overseas stars and Dhoni & Raina from the Indian Contingent. "

Hope to see folks from Port Elizabeth in Chennai Super Kings Exclusive Fan Social Network soon.

News Source: Weekend Post

Chennai Super Kings Training Session Begins

While the other teams are still undecided on various things, Chennai Super Kings team has begun its final preparation for IPL extravangza. The team started its initial training session yesterday. Chennai SuperKings (CSK) Trainer Gregory King and seven chennai super kings players - Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel, Joginder Sharma, Manpreet Gony, Sudip Tyagi, Shadab Jakati and S. Anirudha started their training session at Chepauk. Thanks to the semi-finals of the first division league, the other players missed out on training session. They are expected to join the training session this week.

Direct from the Training Session

Wisdom of King

Gregory King believes the pleasant weather in South Africa during this time of the year could provide some relief to the teams as they grapple with a gruelling schedule in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Back from Injuries

"The cricketers appear to be in good shape" said King. Pacemen Joginder Sharma and Sudip Tyagi are returning from injuries, "Joginder had an injury to his heel and, so far, he has looked good. Tyagi has come back from a stress fracture of the back. I think he has recovered well," he said. [Just hope Jacob Oram also joins this list]

CSK Starts its Tour on April 8

The cricketers will train till April 3 and the second training session will start on April 6. Chennai Super King are planning to leave for South Africa on April 8.

News Source: Hindu

For regular updates about Chennai Super Kings, please enter your email address below

Super Kings Getting Ready for Safari Land

With the sudden shift in venues, Chennai Super Kings Management are working hard to accomodate this sudden change and get the team ready for the Safari Land. As a first step, the team is planning a 10 Day Camp ahead of the competition in South Africa. But the Indian, Australian and South African international players would be able to join the camp only at the end.

South African Connections

The team also expects the South African presence in the squad - Ntini, Albie Morkel & trainer Gregory King to be very beneficial this season. Their key inputs and knowledge about the local conditions would be vital to the success of the team. Also Hussey, Hayden and Flintoff have a lot of experience in playing in South Africa. To top it, our captain, Dhoni has happy memories of South Africa where he skippered the Indian team to memorable victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup two seasons ago.

Chennai Super Kings are Favorites

Though there was a lot of uncertainity around the second season of Indian Premier League, betting for Indian Premier League has already started going great guns. And the competition is already looking fierce in terms of betting on the Indian Premier League - 2009 Season.

As per the current reports, Chennai Super Kings is leading the odds with 4-1, ahead of the next placed Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab at 5-1. And I don't disagree. :)

News Source: Betting Choice

NR-IPL @ South Africa

It is official. Indian Premier League - Season 2 would take place in South Africa. Thanks to favorable weather & government, Lalit Modi & Co. have preferred South Africa over England. Thanks to South African domestic season, the tournament will start a week later on April 18th. So Andrew Flintoff's availability to Chennai Super Kings would be further reduced by a week. But Albie Morkel, Ntini and Hussey would be now available for the entire tournament.

More Chennai Super Kings Stars Disappointed About Shifting

After Flintoff and Badrinath expressing their disappointment of shifting of IPL venues, Lakshimpath Balaji also joined in and expressed his disappointment on shifting IPL outside India. Balaji said to Hindu that,

"It is quite depressing in that we won't have home matces. But at least the IPL is making it happen. "

Even Muralitharan, who narrowly escaped from the terrorist attacks in Lahore, has expressed his disappointment in an interview with TOI,

"Yes it is extremely disappointing that we won't get the opportunity to playin India. IPL proved to be such an exciting cricket tournament last year, what with international and national cricketers, lots of stars, celebs and the fast-paced T20 format.

I don't know whether we will get the same environment again. But then, as cricketers, we are contract-bound and have to play wherever they organize the tournament. "

IPL: We are Disappointed

I was hoping that Lalit Modi & Co. would stitch up a miracle and will ensure that Indian Premier takes place this year. But I was sad when i came to know that the miracle was shifting IPL to another country. I understand that no other solution was possible. But still my heart aches to find out that I can watch my favorite IPL team only on television.

Hmm.. Anyway, Thanks for atleast conducting the event. Hope all the logistics are worked out in two weeks. And everything takes place without any glitch.

Update: Even Flintoff joins CSK Fans in expressing his disappointment over the switch. [Telegraph]

Photo Source: Lancashire Evening Post

Great IPL Drama!!!

With the first ever auction in Cricket, cheerleaders and Businessmen, I thought that no seasons of Indian Premier League could rival the first season viz-a-viz drama. But just the second season of Indian Premier League has proved me wrong. 

First we saw Flintoff and Pietersen becoming the highest paid IPL Players. Then to everybody's surprise we saw Mortaza being snapped up for 0.6 Million USD. The Clubs paid these prices, when there was a Global Economic Crisis all around the world and pink slips are a norm in all the companies. I believed all these drama would be over with the auctions and focus would shift back to Cricket and Economics (Sponshorships)

Sadly, I was wrong. Lahore Happened. And everybody (including our very own Jacob Oram) started raising their concerns about the security. Even before that crisis settled down, Indian Home Minister Chidambaram joined the fray by dropping a bombshell about the security problems for conducting IPL during elections. Add to this, the recent controversy about the television rights of IPL, confusion reigns in the second season of Indian Premier League

Thankfully, Lalit Modi has not given up hope and is now running pillar and post to various offices of Central and State Governments to get the necessary permission for running IPL. My hopes are not lost too. I still believe that the current schedule submitted by Lalit Modi would be accepted by Central Government. 

But the biggest losers in all these drama are the fans like you & me. Delhi and Jaipur may not even play a single match in their home, while chennai super kings would be forced to conduct four of its home matches in an alien state. [News: Cricinfo]. Hopefully, Cricket in Season 2 matches the increased drama of this season and the next season is much more peaceful. 

Modi! Bring the Cricket On!