MS Dhoni was greeted by a loud roar by the crowd expectedly when he spoke at the toss as Chennai Super Kings returned to their homeground at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after nearly four years. Known to have one of the strongest fan-bases and most loyal home crowd, Chepauk had been deprived of Indian Premier League matches since the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic, the stadium wasn’t at full capacity with some stands being shut due to logistical reasons. The last IPL game hosted in Chennai was on April 7, 2019.
The Super Kings also have an impressive record at home, having lost just 15 out of 56 IPL games played at this venue.
As Dhoni and Co return to action at their den, the captain spoke about the feeling saying, “It does mean a lot. Not to forget IPL started in 2008 but we’ve not played a lot of cricket here. If I am not wrong, we have played only six seasons where we played all the games. Even amongst them, a few stands were empty earlier due to various issues. This is the first time the full stadium will be operational and it will be house-full.”
“I feel very happy for the fans. It gives them the opportunity to host all the seven games and come back and watch the home team play,” he added.
Although they lost their opening encounter against Gujarat Titans by five wickets, the home-team decided to go in with the same squad against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday.
After being asked to bat first, Dhoni said, “What is important need to keep assessing, see how the wicket is changing over the period, first six overs with the new ball is important, then see if it has really slowed down or not and accordingly, keep changing the target. It is important to keep revisiting our targets, evaluate and keep a realistic goal in mind and take it from there.”
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