Although CSK’s journey on the field has been good so far, having won two of their three matches, yet off the field they had to manage
VIVO IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings prepare for new home at Pune
The Cauvery river water dispute had led the IPL committee to change the two times IPL champions’ home base from Chepauk to Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) stadium in Pune.
While the team members have left for Mohali on Wednesday to face Kings XI Punjab, the CSK officials Kasi Viswanathan and George John have rushed to Pune to get the infrastructure ready for the team when they arrive on April 26.
“We have to start from scratch and that’s what we are doing. The first thing that we have to look into is getting the necessary permissions and creating a set-up for our home matches. We have just started working on that,” Viswanathan told TOI.
The CSK team was formed according to the conditions of Chepauk, but the sudden change in home base will force the CSK curators to look into the pitch and make sure that the conditions are in favour of the home team.
The positive point is that some of CSK’s players like MS Dhoni, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur and Imran Tahir along with coach Stephen Fleming had been part of Rising Pune Supergiants last season and are quite accustomed with the conditions.
However the whole team was in a sombre mood while leaving Chennai behind. Fleming tweeted, “Sad to be leaving Chennai today. Great to be back and again experience the love and passion the Tamil Nadu fans have for cricket and CSK. I trust a ‘peaceful’ resolution is found soon for the problems at hand. Thanks to everyone for making the team so welcome.”
Some other members of the team were also seen expressing their opinion on their official twitter handle.