ISL: With Dhoni on board, Chennaiyin FC hope to follow in CSK's footsteps

Bangalore’s loss was Chennai’s gain. And no, this has nothing to do with the Kaveri water dispute. This is about something slightly less serious but equally life altering – The Indian Super league. In August 2014 due to certain undisclosed issues the Sun group owned Bangalore franchise pulled out of the league making way for a new team - Chennaiyin FC.

Owned by actor Abhishek Bachchan, Chennai’s favorite adopted son M.S Dhoni and industrialist Vita Dani, Chennaiyin FC aims to bring about a football revolution in the otherwise cricket crazy city. The team name and logo originates from the heart of Chennai’s life and culture.

The team’s logo has been inspired from Drishti, a common household item found all over Chennai. The Drishti (known as Nazar Battu in North India) is supposed to drive off negativity and bad luck. The tendency to take credit for all the good and blame the wrong on an external force is a very human trait. This is probably the first time I have seen a sports team acknowledge the fact that they are “mere mortals”. Most teams try and create a myth around being invincible. It is interesting to note that the team acknowledges the fact that besides skill one needs luck too.

The reason why I like the team logo is that it is very quirky. If used well the logo in itself can become a great tool to be licensed out. I can even see people who are not sports crazy wanting to flaunt this logo. If they partner with the right design team this logo could look very good on a whole host of things right from t-shirts to phone covers.

The official team color, blue, also reinforces the team’s characteristics and values. Blue is the color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust and faith. With MS Dhoni on board I am not surprised that the team is trying to ride the luck factor. Dhoni is one of the luckiest Indian sportspeople around.

Maybe it was the luck (or business acumen) that helped the club rope in Ozone group as principal sponsor at a very short notice. What other clubs did in months this one did in weeks.

Now they need this luck to translate into wins on the field. Most Chennaites would accept nothing less than winning the inaugural Hero ISL cup. After all they have got too used to the other city based team, Chennai Super Kings winning everything.