Post Cyclone Vardha, Chennai looks to Virat Kohli’s India to bring some cheer to fans when they take on England in the 5th Test
Test match returns to Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium after more than three years. India, under Virat Kohli, have risen to No. 1 rank in Tests since then and have been playing like a team that deserves to be perched right on top of the world.
Chennai’s own Murali Vijay and Ravichandran Ashwin will look to make the fifth and final Test against a defeated English side under Alastair Cook a memorable one and give the local fans something to cheer about and lift their spirits after being devastated by Cyclone Vardah when Kohli & Co. were going about their business of demolishing Cook’s England at the Wankhede earlier this week.
It is to watch this dominating bunch of players live that the Chennai cricket lovers are eagerly looking forward to. This team looks to improve with every outing, putting aside individual goals for the sake of collective result. The Chennai crowd is synonymous with intelligent crowd. They appreciate good cricket, cheer for the sport rather taking sides. Even the visiting teams like to play in Chennai and do not feel out of place.
Who can forget the standing ovation that the sporting Chennai spectators gave Wasim Akram’s Pakistan after they defeated Mohammad Azharuddin’s India by 12 runs in January 1999?
And, of course, Chennai crowd have their darlings, too. They are keen to see Virat Kohli in full flow and hope that he goes past Sunil Gavaskar’s record of 774 for most runs by an Indian in a Test series. Just like how Chennai have adopted Mumbai stalwarts Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar as their own, Kohli is not far away from getting into the hearts of the Chennai fans.
That said, and with England demoralised by a totally dominant all-round show by India, the Chennai crowd will be keen to watch good contest between the two countries. V Ramnarayan, a former Hyderabad and South Zone off-spinner from Chennai and a contemporary of legends EAS Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan, said that in as much as the crowd would want a good contest between bat and ball, he did not see the deflated England putting up a show here.
“This is an occasion for England to regain some pride. I don’t know if they can, as their batting and bowling were not as expected in this series. And, with India doing so well, they can only win one more game and make it 4-0. The Chennai crowd would love to see England put up a fight,” Ramnarayan told DNA on Tuesday.
Such has been India’s thorough dominance not only in this series but over the last 17 months that they would love to finish the rubber on a high and not take this game lightly. Captain Kohli expressed relief at sealing the series in Mumbai and that his players could go out and express themselves out here in the final Test.
That does not mean that this match will pass off as an insignificant game in the context of the series. A 4-0 win for India, and in Kohli’s CV, will be remembered forever and largely talked about. It also looks better than a 3-0 or a 3-1 result. That will only extend the captain’s unbeaten run of Tests to 18, which will be an all-time high for India.
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