Chennai Super Kings to bring back school tournament

Chennai Super Kings, one of the two banned Indian Premier League franchises, continues to have one of the most loyal fan bases across the country. Despite serving the ban, brand CSK continues to hog the top trending bracket on social media.

This fan connect has coaxed the franchise into organising the third edition of the Junior Super Kings inter-school T20 cricket tournament from June 29. The tournament will be played in Chennai, and thus will go a long way in maintaining the brand value and reach of Chennai Super Kings.

"Last year, we couldn't conduct this tournament but this year there were a lot of calls from schools and parents across the state who wanted to know if the event was on. And we decided to go ahead with the tournament," K George John, director of CSK told TOI.

John, also believed that the reach of Chennai Super Kings boils down to the fact that such tournaments help in the sustainability of the brand. He further said that the popularity of the franchise has not dipped is a testament to the fact that fans still connect with the team.

While the first of the four phases will be played in Chennai, the second phase will start from August 2 and will be held at Vellore, Erode, Villupuram, Nagapattinam and Tirunelveli. Each district will host 7 matches during the span of the tournament.

"Kids form an important fan base for CSK. When kids take a liking to something, parents too tend to get involved. CSK has never gone in search of brand recall. It is the sheer love of the fans and kids which have made CSK such a popular outfit," John added.

The winners of the 10 districts will then play in the final phase of the tournament. The winner and the runners-up of Chennai play in Tirunelveli from December 26. This phase should see 12 league games and 3 knockouts being played. As many as 152 teams from all around Tamil Nadu will take part in the competition.