IPL galleries come up in Chennai

Gated communities in RA Puram and Vadapalai make the CSK win sweeter by getting residents to share the joy before giant screens

When Kolkata Knight Riders’ innings had entered the death overs in the IPL 2021 finals, to further belabour an already much-battered cliche, everything was over bar the shouting. And the shouting was deafening as it was not restricted to a swanky sporting acreage in Dubai, with its limited crop of Chennai Super Kings fans. It was blasting out of pockets of Chennai, where some gated communities had rustled up galleries in front of giant screens.

Appaswamy Orchards in Vadapalani has a history of big-screen screening of big-ticket cricket matches involving India and Chennai Super Kings. The community was not going to sit cooped up at individual homes and let the moment pass with weak and scattered roars of delight.

“We have screened the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup; and crucial CSK matches from the past editions of IPL,” says Manikandan Venkataraman, secretary of the residents association at Appaswamy Orchards.