World of MSDians

Roar of the Lion - 1

Roar of the Lion is a series being telecast-ed in hotstar as "Hotstar Specials" produced by Dhoni entertainments. It is a documentary on Mahendra Singh Dhoni where he along with other cricketers, coach and sports personalities of Chennai Super Kings would speak up on the controversy of Match fixing which took place three years ago for which CSK has been banned for 2 years and in 2018, it came back with a bang. So, here is the teaser for the same.

Yesterday that is on 20th march, this series is started and five parts have been released out of which only one is available to all the users while the other four are only available to premium customers. So, I thought being an MSDian I can share my views on the episodes as not every one would have time to watch all the episodes but if you do, then I recommend you to watch them. They are just amazing. I would be writing it in Mahi's POV.

Season 1 Part 1: What did We do Wrong?

In 2015, CSK was banned while it came back with a roar in 2018. The video is for the fans who were there with them during this tenure, who supported them in their hard times. It starts with Mahi in the car where he tells that 2013 was  in the auctionthe darkest phase for him when Match fixing and spot fixing were the main news in India. Though as a cricketer, in 2007 after India lost the world cup was a depressing moment but this is something different. Later it was continued by Micheal Hussy, the batting coach of CSK and two star players Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina who blurt out their feelings on this issue.

Srinivasan, the owner of the Team got involved into it as his own son in law got arrested in Spot fixing. While few of the bookies mentioned Dhoni's name too and it came out as a shock to all his fans. Spot fixing was a common thing but then a player like Dhoni getting involved in it was something hard to believe. Dhoni says "What all he is now, is just because of cricket and the biggest crime he could commit personally is not a murder, it is match fixing. Because, if he does something like that, then it is not restricted only to him...it would have a bigger impact." So, as all these things were coming out and Chennai had to play the finals with Mumbai, 

"Mahi bhai said us in the hurdle that our focus must only be on our game. The rest is unimportant. Later I don't want to hear anyone saying bad about cricket because of any one individual." These are the few words by Mohit Sharma, one of the Chennai bowlers on his captain.

Chapter 1: Before The storm

Dhoni says that his and CSK's was an arranged marriage like a marriage which is set looking in a matrimony site. As his name was mentioned in the auction, the whole Chennai has owned him and started showering so much love which is equally reciprocated by Mahi. 

The fans remember each and every gesture of Dhoni which they see on the field and they have immense trust on him. When Mahi comes into the crease, they feel as if someone from their own family is playing out there. Many sports critics too mentioned that Sachin might be the god of the cricket while Dhoni having a lower profile, came silently making us feel that he is one of us but yet he is a superstar.

Chapter 2: The separation

Finally they have announced two year ban on CSK. Ha it is agreed that there was mistake from our side but did players or team deserve it who are not at all involved in it. What did the fans do, why were they punished?

In those two years, anyone would think that as days passed by, fan base would have reduced but then it increased...it increased tremendously. In Chennai, more than 3000 fans started "Save CSK" Campain and they stopped watching IPL for those two years. It was very emotional moment for all of us. We need to learn a lot from our fans, the support they showed to the team or any individual when we were not performing well was something similar to the love they show for god, so pure and genuine. 

Chapter 3: Born Again

Finally, the ban was removed in July 2017 and it was quite known fact that who will be the top three players the team is going to retain. Then we all started planning for the auction too early as we wanted to come back with a blast. And then as the auction was done, we didn't realise that our team has more seniors compared to youngsters. While travelling with our families, we had been more than 45 as all of us had kids and our's became a dad's team. As people started taunting us that what will you guys play, IPL is a young man's game, then I noticed that "Yes we are seniors but why can't we show that we are not less than juniors"

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Here ends the first part. Will be back with part 2 and 3 too.