[padmrajravi]

Even I spent a lot of time in Bangalore but could never get connected with RCB. Most of it has to do with Virat the captain.

Once Dhoni leaves CSK, I will switch my loyalties to DC if they retain Pant or Shreyas as captain. Both of them look to me as great future players and I have a feeling one of them will lead India. I generally ignore teams captained by foreign players though I make exceptions for Williamson.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by am1m

Question: do you guys feel 'connected' to the IPL franchise of your city?

Personally I am connected to players more than the franchise. Gone are those days where one Franchise had an icon who had strong connections to the city. Ex: Sachin for Mumbai, Dravid for Bengaluru, Ganguly for Kolkatta etc.
Mumbai Indians is a strong team however I dont like the Pandya Brothers. IMHO they both are over rated especially Hardik- he is most times injured, cannot bowl or part of some controversy.
As I said, my affinity towards a franchise is as per the players and support SRH for Kane, Rashid & Warner. Rajasthan Royals was once my favorite team when it had Dravid as captain and mentor with many flourishing young talent. Currently a similar flavour is with DC as someone mentioned in previous posts, Shreyas Iyer is the future of Indian Cricket. He has shown and proved his skills and temperament of a leader.
We Indians associate individual greatness to captaincy and that is where we probably fail. Ganguly and Dhoni both were not prolific run makers when they were captaining however most times came up with strategically correct decisions. Kohli on the other hand has been a terrible tactician but one of the greats in batting.

[ValarMorghulis]

I kinda felt bad for Virat yesterday. He's a good player but perhaps not so great a captain. A lot of obvious tactical mistakes yesterday including batting first on a pitch where historically the team batting second has won more matches.
That said, one can't argue that the guy doesn't give anything less than 100% on the field.
So long cap.
Hope lady luck (and form) is by your side in the upcoming T20 WC. We'll definitely need it.

[VW2010]

Once Dhoni leaves CSK, I will switch my loyalties to DC if they retain Pant or Shreyas as captain

Dhoni is the franchise. He will be a mentor, coach, and senior mentor when he reaches 75. Except Mumbai and CSK the other teams have been constantly chopping and changing. Mumbai has a huge Sachin following as well. In general, the other franchises do not have heroes to follow. Kohli is a great batsman but rude, abrasive, and comes out as the kid who has talent but deserves to be ignored. 13 years with the best players around the globe and yet not winning one trophy should sting. He survived because he was the captain of the India team. He is in fact lucky to have survived the last 1 year with mediocre performance across formats.

[SoumenD]

Feel bad for Kohli. Just like Sachin he is a great batsman but captaincy hasn’t favoured him. I believe just like Sachin he should have quit the position long back and concentrated more on batting. I was so sure he would beat all batting records but looking at his current form it looks doubtful. Anyways hopefully now he gets more time to concentrate on his own form and comes back with vengeance. We need you to perform champ

As for IPL, have been CSK supporter right from first edition because of Dhoni(Jharkhand connection ). I so hope he wins it this time and retires at a high. But there were some articles which said he wanted to play last match in Chennai, so can’t tell.

[hothatchaway]

What a performance by Narine! So calm and unruffled as he mowed down the clueless RCB bastmen. Loved the look on VKs face as Narine the batsman then blasted the beejezus out of them. What a performer, no bluster or hype, just goes about his job.

Kohli is cutting a really sorry figure with the bat. The captaincy debate is now just a sideshow, he doesn't deserve a place in the first XI with the bat in hand.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by am1m

Question: do you guys feel 'connected' to the IPL franchise of your city?

I do not like the name Chennai in CSK. It should have been Tamil or Tamil Nadu super kings. So I'm not able to connect to the franchise of "city". Maybe teams having state name itself in them have better loyal fans.

[Mafia]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Kohli is cutting a really sorry figure with the bat. The captaincy debate is now just a sideshow, he doesn't deserve a place in the first XI with the bat in hand.

Another bitter disappointment for us RCB fans. 14 years of waiting. At least Kohli is stepping down as captain. Maybe it will be a better season next year.

Can't ignore IPL in corona times and can't watch IPL as a RCB supporter

[harry10]

It's absolutely sad to see Dan Christian and his family getting targeted by some idiot RCB fans on social media. Even Maxwell has to cop this behaviour. Such morons give bad name to all Indian fans. It's a game in the end. Someone will win and someone will lose. Move on.

People often confuse Kohli the IPL captain with Kohli the Indian captain. Kohli, the Indian Captain has been the best in Indian history if you go by stats. ICC trophy is elusive though but then he has captained in only 2 ICC tournament so far. RCB won't leave kohli like CSK won't leave Dhoni. See, for owners and investors the profit on balance sheet matters and Kohli brings lot of revenue for RCB even if they stay trophyless.

I would love to see what Hesson has to say now. He was mocking everyone during auction and was so happy his genuis move made DC buy Steve Smith. Well, DC can still play the final or maybe win it but RCB is on their way back home.

KKR vs DC tomorrow. DC has better balance with bowl and bat. Just need Ash to bowl some off spin for a change. Kkr has advantage of playing in Sharjah. Will be fun match.

[Eddy]

I really wanted RCB to win this time, for emotional reasons. But Kohli the captain lost it for them yesterday. You don't bowl your 6th / 7th bowler to a designated pinch hitter. Absolutely criminal.

And I really don't see how someone can derive satisfaction from abusing a sportsperson and his family. Terrible behavior.

I think KKR will pip Delhi in Sharjah. Should Amit Mishra play in place of Ashwin? He's done nothing of note, that I recall.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Eddy

I really wanted RCB to win this time, for emotional reasons. But Kohli the captain lost it for them yesterday. You don't bowl your 6th / 7th bowler to a designated pinch hitter. Absolutely criminal.

All 3 spinners did a great job for KKR and RCB just had to follow the same example, but Shahbaz wasn't given the ball and they completely lost it once Sunil Narine blasted 3 sixes. The match was lost at that moment though it seemed like a close finish in the end! 150-160 would have been a good score to defend, anyways it's all over.
Kohli bashing (as captain) will probably continue one last time for the T20 WC and then haters can sing paeans for Rohit or whoever else takes over.

[pandey.jai]

Unpopular opinion but Kohli the non-captain in RCB will not be very beneficial to the team. It might just create a new power center in the team, if an Indian player is made captain.
If Kohli goes through a lean patch, will the captain be willing to drop him?

[hothatchaway]

So KKRs dream run continues. What a tremendous talent Venkatesh Iyer is, reminds me of Yuvi with his clean striking prowess. He needs to be in the first XI in the T20 cup even if at the expense of some stalwart.

Seems to me that all IPL teams are committed to create some excitement, percentage cricket be damned. How else does one explain what happened in the last four overs last night?!

[VWAllstar]

Chennai Super Kings are the 2021 Champions

Probably this is the last time we would see the core of this Daddy Team. It was this belief on the players, support staff and management that has got them this far. Interesting to see how Dhoni would pursue his association with the franchise as a player.

This match was between the opening pairs of CSK & KKR. In return Indian Cricket has got Gill, Iyer & Ruturaj.

Congratulations to all CSK supporters

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

As for IPL, have been CSK supporter right from first edition because of Dhoni(Jharkhand connection ). I so hope he wins it this time and retires at a high.

And they win. Yay!!!

At the end became pretty one sided but Iyer and Ruturaj have made their presence felt. Pretty level headed folks at such young age. And Iyer’s all rounder skills actually can prove valuable in future for Indian team which still misses a proper fast bowling all rounder.