U-19 Players for Local Franchises Only

Cricinfo reports that

"Each of the franchises in the Indian Premier League will get the first option for picking Under-19 players from their own catchment areas, the Indian board has said. The decision comes in the wake of franchises voicing concerns over player-poaching, with local players being lured by other teams."

VB Chandrashekar, the selector for the Chennai Super Kings was upbeat on hearing the news. But he wished that it would have been great if the ruling covered U-22 players as well.

Cheerleaders for Chennai Super Kings

It is a rare phenomenon in marketing in which a product/service is successfully able to expand its category. To be successful, Indian Premier League has to achieve this rare phenomenon by expanding its category from Sports to Entertainment. ICL has already shown the way in this regard and Cricinfo list packaged entertainment as one of the key reasons for the success of ICL in Chandigarh. Hope Chennai Super Kings, Chennai Franchise of Indian Premier League also follows suit .

If it does:

We can expect dance and music shows by famous Kollywood stars during the breaks. If India Cements has the courage, it may even bring some half-clad cheer leaders(mostly foreign exported) to M.A. Chidambaram Stadium[:)]. [Remember ICL has already shown the path by having cheerleaders dancing on the either side of the park].

Ottayan(another Chennai Super Kings Fan) is running a poll on his blog on whom should be the Cheerleader(Sorry Ottayan, I prefer the word 'Cheerleader' to 'Mascot') for Chennai Super Kings. Choices he has listed are:

Whom do you prefer? Any other choices you suggest?

Update: Since Nayantara has been officially choosen as the ambassador of Chennai Super Kings, I think it is time to close this poll...

IPL Auction - Commercialization of Cricket

When Chennai Super Kings snapped up Dhoni for 6 crore rupees, every Tom, Dick and Harry in India started complaining about the crazy commercialization of cricket. Even politicians joined this critics group. Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray retorted that Indian Premier League is 'a gambling game of industrialists' and asked BCCI President Sharad Pawar to stop it.

Yeah. Indian Premier League is commercialization of cricket. "But is this commercialization bad for cricket?"... as these self-appointed critics wants us to believe. Amit Verma of India Uncut Blog correctly reasons out that "There is nothing wrong in commercialization." A Must Read Article for all cricket fans.

News Snippets

February 23, 2008:

1. 2 out of 2: Mr. Srinivasan, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements confides to Hindu that Chennai Super Kings targeted Mahendra Singh Dhoni and off-spinner Muralitharan and picked them both in the first set of auction. In his interview, he was all praise for Dhoni, pointing out Dhoni's three-in-one abilities - an outstanding cricketer, a match winner and a captain.
2. Wait: Cricinfo reports that "With a dog fight going on between different frachises to sign promising junior cricketers, the Indian board has come with a clear intstruction to all junior cricketers. The BCCI has asked them not to sign up for the Indian Premier league on an individual basis until they decide on a procedure to adopt for the same.
3. Catchment Players: Cricinfo in their article about player poaching reports that 'Yo Mahesh, pending fitness issues, and S Badrinath are likely to play for Chennai Super Kings and also that the Chennai Super Kings has been in touch with Abhinav Mukund and Napoleon Einstein(both are part of India's U-19 Squad for the world cup in Malaysia)

Advertisements...

After the grand auction on Wednesday, IPL franchises have started their brand building exercises. All the marketing managers would understand the need of any new sports franchise,etc to concentrate on promotions, advertisements so that they could create a support base - life blood for any franchise. And Chennai Super Kings management also understand this(thankfully). And they are first off the block with regard to adverstisements.

Financial express reports that Chennai Super Kings has signed the local ad agency - Salt advertisement agency to handle its ad campaigns. First of the series of ads reads “8 teams, 44 days and 59 matches--one victory-name Chennai Super Kings.”...

Chennai Super Kings! Hope you stay true to those words...

Sudeep Tyagi may join Chennai Super Kings

After the auction of the big guns, all the IPL franchises are now busy, signing up promising young cricketers, especially for under-22 bracket. According to indiatimes article, Delhi Daredevils Bangalore Royal Challengers have already signed UP's all rounder, Praveen Kumar, who is now playing in the CB series and Delhi Daredevils are all set to sign UP's southpaw opener, Tanmay Srivstava, a member of the U-19 World Cup squad. .

Another promising young bowler from UP, Sudeep Tyagi, who was the highest wicket-taker in the just-concluded Ranji season, has confirmed that "there is a strong possibility of him playing for Chennai Super Kings". He has received offers from Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai and still has not made a concrete decision.

With no academy-backed training, without a reputed coach and no godfather, Sudeep Tyagi has done very well in his debut Ranji season. Hope his well-developed in-cutter - a delivery that has given him good purchase this Ranji season, gives him success in Indian Premier League too. DNA has a special article on him - Latest Pace Ace.

Update 1: According to indiatimes article, Sudeep Tyagi has signed with Chennai Super Kings. If the news is true.. Sudeep Tyagi! Chennai Super Kings Fans welcome you.

What is there in a name???

Krish Ashok on his Chennai Metroblog column, is asking his readers whether Super Kings is the best name that Chennai could come up with. He makes a good point that the name "Chennai Super Kings" rhymes "Wills Filter Kings". Because of which the chances that it will be associated with cigarettes rather than a sports team is pretty high. But what is there in a name???. In 2 or 3 years time, nobody will care about why Chennai Franchise of Indian Premier League was not given some other 'exotic' name.

Yeah! I accept the fact that 'Chennai Super Stars' and 'Chennai Veerans' are much better names than Chennai Super Kings. But if we look at the name with the logo (Lion, the King of the Jungle in minimalist style foregrounded by the name in solid lettering), it makes much more sense for the word 'Kings' to be in the name. Also the word 'super' is a colloquial and a very popular word among Tamils.

Yeah! It is not a great name. But still it is not a name to be ashamed of. It is better to be a 'Simple' name that will be popular among the masses rather than some 'Innovative and Complex' name that will be praised by the critics only.

IPL Auction

Times Now has an in depth report on how each round of auction took place on Hilton Towers. Read the article here.

Robin Singh is Poached!!!

At least a few of the cricket fans of Chennai(like me) would have been disappointed on hearing the news that son of the soil, Dinesh Karthik is not part of Chennai Super Kings Squad. (Read my disappointment on hearing the news @ Where is Dinesh Karthik???). And their misery would have been increased further on hearing the news that Robin Singh, another ex-Tamilnadu cricket team player(residing in Chennai) was poached by the rival team from Hyderabad.

Hyderabad gives its reasons for signing Robin Singh at Cricinfo,

'Hyderabad, who bought Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds for US$1.35 million, said Singh was their "logical choice" for coach.

"Former Hyderabad offspinner and domestic veteran Kanwaljit Singh will assist Robin," Mohanraj, a former Ranji opener for Hyderabad, said. "Robin is a logical choice as he understands the Indian conditions. The tournament is just over a month away, and he wouldn't need any time to adjust to the situation here, unlike maybe some of the foreign coaches. He has also worked with our Indian players [VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma and RP Singh], which makes it easier." '

If Chennai Super Kings was not able to give the role of the coach to Robin Singh(due to his inexperience), they could have atleast given some other strategic role that satisfies him.

Srinivasan and VB Chandrasekhar! are u guys sleeping to let off Robin Singh that easily????
Or is there some other valid reason???

Hope you guys, bring some happiness back into the hearts of the fans by bringing a good coach!!!

Chennai Super Kings Squad - Analysis

The dust has settled down after the bidding frenzy yesterday. And for Chennai Super Kings fans, it is time to analyse the players picked by VB Chandrasekhar, the chief selector for Chennai Super Kings. [Sadly only cricinfo has already made an analysis - 'How the teams stack up', while the other newspapers and web portals are still screaming "Chennai Super Kings snaps up Dhoni for $1.5 Million".]

Indian Players: MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel, Joginder Sharma and Suresh Raina

MS Dhoni:
According to me, MS Dhoni was a fine choice and deserves the huge pay package. Read my reasoning @ 10 Reasons why Chennai Super Kings bought Dhoni. He also provides the opportunity for the team to be built around him.
Verdict: Excellent Decision

Joginder Sharma: A bowling all rounder, he became an immediate hero in many Indian homes after an awesome final over in the thrilling India Vs. Australia T20 Semifinal. He proved that it was not a one-off performance when he bowled the final over in T20 finals too. But his limited international experience is not enough to provide a clear picture of his ability and hence it is better to wait and decide his utility to Chennai Super Kings later.
Verdict: Though Risky, looks a fine choice at a bargain price

Suresh Raina: His stint at Indian Cricket team was not enough to satisfy the selectors. An electrifying fielder known to hit stumps regularly, his abilities in field does not compensate for such a high price. Though he has age on his side(21 years), he still has a long way to go with regard to his performance.
Verdict: $650,000 Price Tag is costly for him.

Parthiv Patel: I am not able to find the logic for bringing Parthiv Patel into the team. He may be an attacking batsman and also provides the option of a reserve wicket keeper + opener. But still I would have prefered Dinesh Karthik in the team. If they wanted a reserve wicket keeper batsman, Chennai Super Kings could have picked up Tatenda Taibu for a bargain price rather than bidding such a high price($325,000) for Parthiv Patel.
Verdict: A Very Poor Decision

----------------------------------

Non-Indian Players: Muralitharan, Hayden, Oram, Fleming, Morkel, Ntini and Michael Hussey.

With the upper cap that only 4 overseas players could be a part of the starting XI, the value of an overseas players decreases considerably compared to Indian Players. But still VB Chandrasekhar has made a few good choices over here.

Muralitharan: One of the most successful players in the game, He comes to Chennai Super Kings at a bargain price of $600,000, especially if you compare it to the high price ($950,000) that Kolkata paid for Ishant Sharma. With the huge success that T20 offers to slower bowlers, Muralitharan will be the major strike bowler for Chennai Super Kings. A Tamizhan, He also boasts a pretty good economic rate in T2o matches and would be available for the whole series.

Verdict: Excellent Choice

Hayden: Though Matthew Hayden may not play in this year's IPL, he still makes a fine choice if somebody takes the future into account. His high T20 Batting average stands testament to the fact that his batting style suits T20. A fine catcher in the gully and the slips, Chennai Super Kings has gotten him for a bargain price of 0.375 Million USD

Verdict: Bargain Price

Jacob Oram: The fact that he would not be available for this year's premier league matches makes it tough to justify his 0.675 Million USD price tag. But still, his multi skills as a batsmen, bowler and fielder makes him a valuable player for any franchise he plays in.

Verdict: Tough to justify the high price. But a good player taking future into account.

Stephen Fleming: Recognized as the one of the most innovative captains ever, Stephen Fleming will be available for all the matches played by Chennai Super Kings(thanks to his retirement from one day and test cricket). We can hope that he not only gives Chennai Super Kings a solid batting performance in the top of the order but also helps the captain in the field.

Verdict: Good decision, though only a few more years of cricket is left in his career.

Makhaya Ntini: Though Makhaya Ntini comes at a price of 1/5th of a Million USD (Lowest among the 11 players), there is still a question lingering whether he deserves such a high price. Young Days, when Makhaya Ntini can run in all day, on all surfaces, with pace and aggression is behind him. And Still he does not have swing or variations in his bowling arsenal. His inability to find a place in the South African squad for the last 2 matches bore testament to his declining utility for any team.

Verdict: Ntini has a lot to prove to show that he deserves a place in Chennai Super Kings starting eleven

Albie Morkel: Even cricinfo called his $ 675,000 price tag as a bizarre bargain. But still, he is an useful all rounder with a great future before him.

Verdict: Bizarre Bargain but he has got potential to justify the high price. My Dark Horse for the most valuable player in the team.

Michael Hussey: The last player to be picked by Chennai Super Kings in the auction, his price could have been much higher if he had made the decision to stay away from Pakistan tour, like his colleague Symonds. Still, he could be expected to put his team's performance before his.

Verdict: Bargain Price but he may not play in any of the premier league matches for the next 2 years.

There ends my opinion... Time to hear yours regarding Chennai Super Kings' Selection and Bidding price for various players.

Photo Source: Alister667 and RaeA

Chennai Super Kings's IPL Schedule

Date	Time	Opposition	Home/Away
Apr 19	3 PM	Mohali	Away
Apr 23	7 PM	Mumbai	Home
Apr 26	8 PM	Kolkata	Home
Apr 28	7 PM	Bangalore	Away
May 2	7 PM	Delhi	Home
May 4	8 PM	Jaipur	Away
May 6	7 PM	Hyderabad	Home
May 8	3 PM	Delhi	Away
May 10	8 PM	Mohali	Home
May 14	3 PM	Mumbai	Away
May 18	8 PM	Kolkata	Away
May 21	8 PM	Bangalore	Home
May 24	8 PM	Jaipur	Home
May 27	7 PM	Hyderabad	Away
May 30	1st Semi-final
May 31	2nd Semi-final
June 1	Final

10 Reasons why Chennai Super Kings bought Dhoni for 6 Crore rupees

Around 80 of the World's best cricket players fetched around 42 million USD, but the headlines remained the same in all the news papers. Hot news was 'Chennai Super Kings spending 1.5 million USD from its coffers for Dhoni'. Never before a cricket player has made such a huge amount from a single tournament.

A Few reasons why Chennai Super Kings bought Dhoni

• Brand Value/Star Power of Dhoni: Chennai, without an icon on its own, did not have any star player who can draw crowds. Dhoni plugs this gap beautifully.
• Being the one day team captain and future test captain, Dhoni is going to be on the eyes of the Indian Public for a long time. So he provides Chennai Super Kings an opportunity to ride on his fame.
  
• Wicket Keeper Batsmen are a rare breed as shown by the fact that most of the wicket keeper batsmen commanded a high price.
• As ‘The Hindu’ points out in its article today, Dhoni is a ‘captain in the making’. With the possibility that the future international fixtures of non-Indian players may clash with the Premier League matches, Chennai Super Kings did a wise thing by opting for a Indian Captain(Dhoni), thereby ensuring that its captain leads the team in all the matches.
• Centre of Gravity: As VB Chandrasekhar, the selector of Chennai Super Kings reasoned out in his interview, Dhoni provides the team with a centre around which a team can be built and plans could be formulated for the game.
  
• Young Age: Unlike other iconic players like Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid, etc. Dhoni is just 26 years old and has atleast 8-10 years of cricket left in him. Chennai Super Kings made an wise Investment for the future
• Dhoni, not only hits hard, but also plays intelligently. Proof: His Recent Boundary less fifty in the run chase against Sri lanka
• A Person with an innate ability to build and rally a team around him. As Dinakar points out in his article, much of the credit for Yuvraj's match winning effort against the Lankans should go to Dhoni.
  
• A Person who never fears to back his instincts. This quality of Dhoni brought rich rewards to the nation & team when he backed Joginder Sharma in T20 World Cup Semi-finals.
  
• From an ordinary somebody from Jharkhand, Dhoni has now transformed himself to an youth icon. He has proven to the world that he can not only handle pressure but can thrive on it. Most importantly, He is a Person who will be looking at 6 Crore price tag as a challenge and an opportunity rather than being weighed down by the huge responsibility that comes with the price tag.

A Deserving Candidate for 6 Crore Price Tag

Inside Scoop of Dhoni's Purchase

Cricinfo has an inside scoop of why Chennai bought Dhoni for such a high price. Ajay S Shankar of Cricinfo calls it as a "decision that finally ended up shaking the game."

Chandrasekhar, selector for Chennai Super Kings, explains the reason for 1.5 Million USD purchase of Dhoni
"But for us, a player like that is priceless. He can create ripples with his game, and we can get our team to play around him," VB Chandrasekhar, former India cricketer and national selector, and who raised that last paddle for Chennai, said. "I have seen him transform from just someone from Jharkhand to what he is today."


It also had an inside scoop on how Chennai did it. According to the report, Mumbai was the team that pushed Chennai to its brink, ultimately resulting in such a high price.

"Mumbai went one step further, and then Chennai did a strange thing. "We bid around the US$1.1 million to US$1.2 million mark, and as planned, tried to suggest with our body language that we would not go further," a source in Chennai's auction team said. "Reliance [Mumbai's owners] immediately went up for around US$1.3 million, and we put up US$1.5 million. We knew they couldn't match that as they had Sachin Tendulkar as their icon player, who would have to be paid 15% more, and their spending for just two names would have crossed US$3 million"

Where is Dinesh Karthik????

This would have been the question in the hearts of every cricket lover from Chennai, on seeing the list of players won by Chennai Super Kings in the bidding war. Unlike cities like Bangalore or Mumbai, Chennai boasts only one player(Dinesh) from its city who is a member of current Indian Cricket team. So, when Chennai Super Kings went for the auction today, it was expected by one and all, that Dinesh Karthik would be a part of the team. Surprisingly, the team that went all the way to win Dhoni, did not pick Dinesh Karthik.

Yeah! With Dhoni on board, we need not have to pay such a huge price for a reserve wicket keeper. [Delhi bought Dinesh Karthick for US $ 525,000 making him the most expensive wicket keeper outside the star ones - Dhoni, Gilchrist and McCullum]. There may be a sound logic why Dinesh Karthick is not in the team. But we, the fans are going to come to the stadium not because our heads say it is a logical decision. But because our hearts says "How could we miss the game?". And that heart asks why Chennai Super Kings did not pick the man from its own soil?

Hopefully Chennai Super Kings' management and selectors do not make future mistakes like this.

Chennai Super Kings Squad

No	Players	Price	Country
1	MS Dhoni	US$1.5 million	India
2	Muttiah Muralitharan	US$600,000	Sri Lanka
3	Matthew Hayden	US$375,000	Australia
4	Jacob Oram	US$675,000	New Zealand
5	Stephen Fleming	US$350,000	New Zealand
6	Parthiv Patel	US$325,000	India
7	Joginder Sharma	US$225,000	India
8	Albie Morkel	US$675,000	South Africa
9	Suresh Raina	US$650,000	India
10	Makhaya Ntini	US$200,000	South Africa
11	Michael Hussey	US$350,000	Australia

Chennai Super Kings snaps up Dhoni

As Chandrasekhar(Chief Selector of Chennai Super Kings) said in his earlier interview, he has proved that 'Not having an iconic player is a plus'. Chennai Super kings makes an aggressive bid for the flamboyant wicket keeper batsman from India. With Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings gets a good wicket keeper, an aggressive batsman, a thoughtful captain and most of all, a very intelligent player and a crowd puller.

Hats off to Chandrasekhar for also getting Muralitharan, an intelligent choice, considering the fact that Murali is also a Tamil.

Dhoni & Murali! Welcome on board!

About this Blog

This is the first fan blog that sprang up to support 'Chennai Super Kings', the Chennai franchise of Indian Premier League. And our only wish is that 'Chennai Super Kings' wins the Indian Premier League.

A 'Little' Bit about Chennai Super Kings:
The franchise is owned by Indian Cements, who paid $91 million to acquire the rights of the franchise for the next 10 years. Former India test player Kris Srikkanth is the brand ambassador for the franchise, and another former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar will be the chief selector for the team.

First Post!!!

Hope Chennai Super Kings wins the Indian Premier League!!!

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Robin Samuel,
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I am Robin, an avid fan of Chennai Super Kings. To connect with other Chennai Super Kings Fans and provide them regular updates about the team, I started this blog in February 2008. This is the first Chennai Super Kings fan blog and also boasts the the largest online community of Chennai Super Kings Fans.

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