Chennai Super Kings' fans were left in the lurch after all of the team's home matches were shifted out of the city due to security concerns rising from the ongoing Cauvery dispute.
While CSK's home games have been shifted to Pune, the fans will make their presence felt in Pune as well; the CSK team management* has booked an entire train, calling it the #WhistlePoduExpres, ahead of Friday's clash against Rajasthan Royals.
According to CSK, the team management has arranged for a charter train from Chennai to Pune with 1000 fans on April 19.
The management stated, "The fans, after witnessing the match on 20th April will leave Pune on [the morning of April 21]. A total of 13 coaches and one [air-conditioned] coach has been allotted by the Railways. All expenses of the fans including train, food for all days, stay, local transportation at Pune, match tickets and jersey are borne by CSK.
"The inaugural train journey was flagged off by Mr. Rakesh Singh, executive president, India Cements Ltd, our sponsor. CSK management wishes to thank the Southern Railways for arranging a special train. CSK wishes to organise similarly for all its home games in Pune for fans from Chennai to travel and witness the matches in Pune subject to availability of trains."
Speaking to Sportstar, CSK CEO K.S. Viswanathan said, “The fans of CSK are very sad that matches are not being held in Chennai. The team’s fans have been a big pillar of support for us even when we missed the last two years. So when they approached us for some concessional tickets in Pune to come and cheer for the team, we wanted to give something back to our fans. So we thought this is the least we can do and very glad the management also approved it.”
A.R.R. Sriram, CSK official fan club joint secretary was quoted as saying, “We just put in a request to the management if any arrangement could be made for our (fans') travel to Pune. And, they have come up with this effort. We can't thank them enough.”
Speak of taking fandom to a whole new level!
* Corrected after incorrectly stating fans themselves had booked the train
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