CSK and Chepauk - Much has changed but not a lot has

The day that countless Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans have been waiting for, is finally here. MS Dhoni returns to Chepauk after 1247 days. CSK, too, return to their stomping ground for the first time since 2019, and it almost feels like a carnival.

All roads in the city lead to the MA Chidambaram Stadium, and anyone within a couple of miles of the venue can feel the electric atmosphere. In fact, it might not be wrong to suggest that the result, to thousands of fans at the ground, does not matter.

They are just happy that the IPL is back in Chennai, and that CSK are back to where they belong. If it ends in a victory, good. If it does not, well, they have their CSK back, at least.

The ground is almost full when the toss takes place. The coin goes up, and KL Rahul calls right. He says he wants to bowl first and there is a hush around the ground almost instantly. It is not because the home fans did not want to see their side batting first, but because they are resting their vocal chords before Dhoni is supposed to have a chat with the broadcaster.

And then……pandemonium ensues. The noise is so loud that most decibel meters would have cracked. But there Dhoni is, smiling and just soaking up all the excitement and the emotion. It is not often that he gives in to emotion but tonight, it feels that there might just be that extra sparkle in his eye.

But anyway, now back to the cricket.

The hosts bat first, and Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad tear into the Lucknow Super Giants bowlers. They register their highest-ever powerplay score (79 for 0 at the venue, and barely break into a sweat doing so. They get dismissed in close succession but then Shivam Dube, fresh from what many termed a match-losing innings against the Gujarat Titans, stands up.

It could have been very easy for the four-time champions to drop him altogether, or push him down the order. As is the CSK way, they promoted him to No.3, almost telling him that he needs to keep believing in himself because the franchise does so too.

Ravindra Jadeja, for once, cannot quite get going, post Dube’s departure. Ambati Rayudu, though, is timing the ball exquisitely. And in the final over, once Jadeja is caught on the deep mid-wicket fence, part two of Chepauk’s calm before the storm begins.

There is disappointment because Jadeja has gotten out. But they are almost dancing in the aisles because Thala is striding out to the middle. He is up against Mark Wood, though, who picked up a five-for in his first game this season. At Chepauk, such things did not matter once upon a time. And as it turned out, it did not matter against LSG either.

Now to the run-chase.

The home side get off to a woeful start and their fast-bowlers get carted all around the park. They do not really help themselves by bowling no-balls and wides but the party that was prevalent towards the end of the first innings has now given way to something more serene and deafeningly silent.

CSK take control of the game via spin

Then, like it almost always happens at Chepauk, Dhoni throws the ball to a spinner. Moeen Ali gets a go ahead of Jadeja and Mitchell Santner. He is bowling to the rampant Mayers and the right-handed Rahul, and he immediately makes an impact, sending both of them back to the pavilion.

Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis are accounted for too, and that, coupled with Santner’s scalp of Deepak Hooda, means that CSK are suddenly in cruise control. The Chepauk squeeze, thus, is well and truly on.

Towards the end, CSK show a bit of nerves because their bowling unit, especially the fast-bowling contingent, lacks a bit of experience. Ultimately, though, they do enough to hold on and win by 12 runs, handing them their 41st win (out of 57), and giving them the homecoming their fans craved so badly.

This victory, of course, felt different. Largely because this team has only been together for a season and a bit, and because most who played against LSG had not played a game for CSK at Chepauk earlier. That this team is yet to win a title also adds to that narrative.

View this also from the lens of whatever has happened around the world since the last time CSK played here. We have had COVID. We have had a mega-auction, which forced CSK to rip up a stellar squad and forced them to rebuild. Oh, and we have also seen CSK slump to their worst finish in the IPL, and win their fourth title.

So, a fair bit has happened.

Anyone that says otherwise is kidding themselves. But just glance at what happened at Chepauk on Monday, and you would feel that nothing has changed. It is just as it was – packed to the rafters, cheering for every wicket, every boundary and applauding each extraordinary fielding effort on the fence.

Now, try remembering the most vivid memories from CSK games at Chepauk. They would have usually comprised a very high-scoring powerplay for the opposition before the spinners applied the squeeze. It might have had a left-arm spinner and an off-spinner doing well.

It may have included a rather perplexing Dhoni decision, and someone unheralded rising to the occasion like he always belonged at this level. Oh, and do not forget a trademark flourish by that guy who wears No.7 on his back.

Rub your eyes, and almost all of this happened on Monday against LSG. Mayers and Rahul ripped apart CSK’s pacers in the powerplay, only for Moeen and Santner to bite back, with the former bagging a four-wicket haul.

Jadeja, who many had predicted to be a key player on this surface, bowled all of six balls. Hangargekar and Deshpande held their own under immense pressure, and Dhoni, well, he just clattered two sixes off three balls.

And of course, they won.

There is still plenty of cricket to be played between now and the end of the IPL. If CSK can keep winning these matches at Chepauk, they will find themselves contesting the games that really matter, in sync with what CSK has become renowned for.

Maybe, it is not a stretch to say that an IPL game at Chepauk is defined as a contest between two teams, where 22 (okay, 24 now) players participate, and in the end, CSK win.

Just like old times. But with the promise of a future just as bright as the past.