Chennai’s champions continue their winning streak

Chennai had mixed luck overall in sports in 2015. There were quite a few individual achievements, but teams, in general, did not enjoy a great year. If the usual champions in cricket, squash and chess continued their good run in the national and international arena, the Tamil Nadu (Chennai, mainly) Ranji Trophy cricket team could not progress much in the national competition and the brand that defined the city, the Chennai Super Kings, was taken out of the IPL. 

However, the success stories first. Ravichandran Ashwin and Murali Vijay, the Chennai super stars, have performed exceptionally well for India. Ashwin was perhaps the star of the year for the national cricket team, reaping five-wicket hauls with his off-spin in every Test India played at home, his best coming against South Africa in November/December. 

On November 6, 2015 he became the fastest Indian to take 150 wickets as well during his five-wicket haul against South Africa in Mohali. 

The 29-year-old off-spinner has 176 wickets from 32 Tests, a strike rate that betters every other spinner who has played for India in the same number of Tests, though Anil Kumble’s overall record is unparalleled. Ashwin’s tally of 31 wickets from four Tests was the backbone of India’s 3-0 win over South Africa in the series and that win helped India jump to the second spot in ICC Test rankings. 

Ashwin had won the Man of the Series award in the three-match series against Sri Lanka before the South African one. He became the tormentor of Kumar Sangakkara who retired from Tests following the second Test, and dismissed the Sri Lankan four consecutive times in his final four innings. 

At the end of the series, he finished with 21 wickets and thereby broke the record for most wickets by an Indian bowler in a series against Sri Lanka.  Murali Vijay is the Mr Reliable of Indian batting in Tests at the top of the order. Vijay’s knocks in Mohali (75 and 47) on a difficult wicket against South Africa underlined his capability. 

Vijay is here to stay as the prime target for rival pacemen at the top of the order. Chess has, over the last two decades, thrown up plenty of champions from Chennai, especially in the different age-groups. 

As usual, the World Youth Championship is the best indicator for the future and this year’s edition in Greece in October was confirmation that India is up there as a super power already. Indian girls and boys bagged 11 medals in the championship, out of which five gold medals and one silver belonged to Chennaiites. 

Bharat Subramaniam is the rising star among the kids, winning the under-8 title. Pragnananda won the under-10 gold and Rakshita Ravi, former TN star TS Ravi’s daughter, completed the double in the under-10 category. Vaishali (under-14) and Mahalakshmi (under-18) made it a memorable event for Chennai. Chennai’s Varshini took home the silver in the under-18 girls’ section. 

Teenager Murali Karthikeyan from Chennai became the National champion while Aravindh Chithambaram and Varshini asserted Chennai’s superiority by bagging the National junior titles. Though the Chennai Super Kings cricket team got the boot from the BCCI in 2015, the football team from the city made amends. 

Chennaiyin FC won the Indian Super League (ISL) title in the second edition of the competition after a dramatic 3-2 win over FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium in December. The major leap was made by Joshna Chinnappa, who overtook Deepika Pallikal in world rankings, standing 13th as against the latter’s 16th. 

Sourav Ghosal continued to figure in the top 20 in the senior world rankings. N Srinivasan, who seemed to weather all the storms that have threatened to cut short his career, finally lost his chair as the president of the BCCI in a bloodless revolution that is typical of cricket administration in the country. The Tamil Nadu Ranji team had a lean run in the National championship.