Sad Day for CSK Fans

It is early hours of the day before another finals for CSK. Rather than waiting with glee for the match, my eyes have tears in them. IPL's most successful team faces its first & IPL's biggest controversy. A team principal (let us not kid ourself by believing that Gurunath Meiyappan was just an honorary member of the management team) has been arrested (Cricinfo). He was the public face of India Cements' promoters in Chennai Super Kings Team & his arrest is a major blow for the franchise. Though the early reports indicate that he might be arrested for betting rather than fixing the matches, it is tough to separate both the crimes today. 

And the team management owes its fans to take the following actions

• Guilty should be punished. Projecting this as vendetta politics, etc. is foolishness. 
• Be Transparent. Suddenly waking up and saying that Meiyappan was not Team Principal is foolishness
• Don't be silent. CSK player's active twitter accounts have all gone silent today. Speak up. Nobody is yet pointing any fingers at them. 
• Promise us there won't be any more wrong-doings
• N. Srinivasan should resign from BCCI President role - without any delay. And if I am on the board of directors of India Cements, I should be asking on whether Srinivasan should continue as its MD

And what we the CSK Fans promise

• We won't run away because of this controversy. But we do expect better integrity from the team
• We do understand Meiyappan is not the owner of the team. Do understand that equating Meiyappan to CSK is like equating Sreesanth to entire Rajasthan Royals Team.
• We will continue to treat CSK management and CSK Players as two different groups. And would continue to support CSK Players on the field. 

But I am sure CSK brand will take a severe beating. Expect a few sponsors to walk away from the brand next year. Whatever said & done, my love & affection for CSK would never be innocent again. :(