The Yellow Brigade (CSK fans) at the Pune Junction station on Friday. (Source: Twitter)
Special screenings are passé, special trains are in – or at least that’s the case with Chennai Super Kings who have been forced into shifting their home base from Chennai to Pune. The move came in the aftermath of police expressing inability to control the crowd over Cauvery protests and the staging of IPL contests in the city. With a massive fan following, CSK are a special franchise in the extravaganza that is the IPL. To that effect, the franchise organised a special train to take the fans for the match against Rajasthan Royals on Friday. And the fans showed up in numbers at the station.
The decision to finally shift the venue from Chennai to Pune was taken after a shoe were hurled at Ravindra Jadeja, who was fielding at long-off and also at Faf du Plessis, who was carrying water for the players.
‘The Yellow Brigade’ is all set to flock the Gahunje Stadium for their first match in Pune on Friday (April 20). Around 1,000 fans had boarded the ‘Whistlepodu Express’ while CSK have also arranged for complimentary passes for the match as well as free food and accommodation.
The franchise announced the arrival of the fans on Twitter by writing, “The #WhistlePoduExpress is now in the #DenAwayFromDen replete with the #WhistlePoduArmy! #whistlepodu 🦁💛”.
During the journey, CSK fans chanted in support of the side made plenty of noise for the two-time IPL and two-time Champions League T20 winners.
Chennai Super Kings are currently fourth in the IPL standings with two wins and a loss after three matches played. The MS Dhoni-captained side began by beating Mumbai Indians in the first match of the season. There in a last ball thriller, CSK won by a wicket to defeat the defending champions at the Wankhede Stadium. They then beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 5 wickets on April 10 before losing to Kings XI Punjab despite a valiant effort from Dhoni to chase down a stiff 198-run target.