Of wins and winners

Last week CSK lifted its 5th IPL title, equaling the record set by MI. The way the final happened over 3 days, starting so late in the night, stretching onto early hours of the next day, was an event in itself. That the team managed to chase one of the largest targets ever set for an IPL finale, stretching it till the final delivery as per usual CSK template, there by shooting the BP levels of their followers is a script that is written, hopefully in heaven and not in any boardroom!! One thing that was noticeable across this edition was the unanimous support for MSD across the country. Irrespective of the home team, majority of the audiences came out to support MSD, and there by CSK, by wearing yellow jersey. Every match that CSK played, the stadiums looked jaundiced in yellow and by the time MS came to strike, the cellphones were ON in full glory as a flood of lights, competing with the flood lights installed. The audiences were moved emotionally and with lot of cues from DJ’s across the country, who belted out hits tailor made for the occasion. Special mention to Chepauk DJ, who made sure every mass intro BGM for Rajini across all his hits were readily available, whenever Dhoni stepped into the ground. 

IPL is rarely acknowledged as a sport event but more of an entertainment package. True to that, the original and only surviving icon from its first edition, who had unofficially declared it as his final appearance, ensured TRP ratings and viewership ratings for this year, topped all charts by his mere presence. Goaded by the response, the media also added to the frenzy by making his presence the biggest spectacle of the tournament. The icing of the lot being, Gavaskar rushing to Dhoni to get his autograph!!! The original little master has always advocated that his last sight before his last breath should be that of Kapil lifting the Prudential cup and Dhoni’s winning six against SL on WC final. But him taking autograph from Dhoni would’ve made the latter turn red in embarrassment and possibly the proudest at the same time. 

Such was the phenomenon called Dhoni that it would’ve been apt to term this edition as MSD IPL instead of Tata, the main sponsor. Jio cinema raked in over 3 crores viewership for the finals and more than 2 crores whenever CSK played, and it peaked especially for the few minutes Dhoni occupied the batting crease. They showed the sound level in stadiums peaked to 120 decibels whenever he came to speak during presentation ceremonies. I loved his interactions with Harsha Bhogle when he used to allow few minutes for the audiences to shout their joy before taking sound bites from Dhoni. The man has literally ruled this edition and the love for him has been a never ever witnessed spectacle any time before in Indian sports. 

The closest celebrity one can think of being Sachin, had only a 5-day game as his last appearance and even though he has quite some records in IPL, as well, he was seen as a pure format player (ODI and tests). His last test match saw such outpouring of emotions over those 5 days and even to this day, people remember those scenes. Of all the noises and chants one can hear on any ground “Saaachin Sachin” followed by the synchronous claps will never ever be rivalled or replaced. The advantage that Dhoni had was IPL being the monster tournament it is, happens to be a 2-month long event that morphed into a festival for Dhoni. It was as if he had a tournament full of last innings, one per ground, per team. The culmination of all being the eventual championship victory. IPL and Dhoni can never be seen separately for he had been at the final podium on almost 70% of the times. 

Typically, being a club level event, one wouldn’t expect fans outside of TN to root for CSK. To some extent one can accommodate a certain percentage of fans supporting them as compared to home team. But such has been the charisma of Dhoni that, this edition saw CSK having 100% home support wherever they played!!! Such a cult status like following has never been seen across club level sports anywhere in the world!!! In a country like India where cricket is religion and every team happens to be one of its kind, Dhoni has been a different kind of phenomenon. Some may say, IPL needed him. Many may say despite so many other talented and proven players, he has been lucky to get all adulation for he is a media created man. His compatriots on WC’11 victory, be it Gambhir or  Yuvaraj who had more than an useful role to ensure the victory, may feel let down by the press for the lack of visibility for what they did, this man, by his sheer calmness and calculative utterances, have won over every media house and maddeningly devoted fans across the country. 

To Win is something everyone aspire for. But to Win like Dhoni will be a new benchmark for every person across every field. He has literally setup the benchmark for victory!!!

Pi. Ku: idhey 5 title MI win pannapo sathhamay illa.