The Chepauk Stadium protests have only served to put distance between CSK and their fans

It was hard to tell who was more horrified – Faf du Plessis or the sea of yellow-jersey-wearing and face-painted Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans in the stand in front of him. Du Plessis, who first played for Chennai in the 2012 Indian Premier League (IPL) season, is a hugely popular figure with supporters, many of whom recall that he was the first foreign player to tweet his support – “Thoughts and prayers with everyone in Chennai” – when the city was struck by floods in December 2015.

Last Tuesday night, as Chennai played their first home game in nearly three years – the franchise was banned for two seasons, after one of the team owners was accused of betting on matches – du Plessis, who wasn’t in the XI, was walking around the boundary when a shoe thrown from the upper tier nearly hit him. Ravindra Jadeja, another outsider who has been embraced like a local down the years, also suffered the same fate.

Those that targeted the players weren’t fans. They were protesters convinced that they could use the publicity around the IPL to draw attention to the long-running Cauvery river-water feud with the neighbouring state of Karnataka. The Supreme Court’s recommendations haven’t yet been implemented and a motley crew of politicians, actors with political ambitions and street thugs decided to take matters into their own hands.

The scenes outside the MA Chidambaram Stadium were truly ugly. This correspondent saw even teenagers heckled and abused by protesters. The police, 4000 of whom were on duty around the ground, just stood and watched.

The fallout for the most devoted fans in the IPL has been quite catastrophic. Appalled by the scenes outside and within the stadium, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) quickly shifted Chennai’s six remaining home games to Pune. With the IPL usually moving out of India in election years – the next national poll is scheduled for the summer of 2019 – it might be 2020 before CSK supporters get to see their team on their home patch.

“What a terribly short-lived homecoming,” tweeted Leena Davey, who now lives in California. “Keep politics out of sports and don’t make politics a sporting activity #woundedcskfan #chennaipride.”

Kaushika Kumar, a 27-year-old engineer who has followed the team since the opening season, could barely contain her excitement in the days leading up to Chennai’s return. “It's going to be absolute madness at Chepauk when Dhoni steps out for the toss on 10 April as the Whistle Podu [Blow the whistle] song reverberates across the stadium,” she said. “Summer can't get any better.”

Unfortunately, Chepauk saw madness of a different kind. Dhoni, who enjoys the kind of cult status usually reserved for movie stars, is 37 this year, and the Chepauk crowd may not get to watch him again. “We will miss the team,” said Kumar. “The city was in celebratory mode ever since the guys were here for practice.”

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Those practice games were watched by more than 10,000 people, most of whom now have no option but to follow the team from afar. It will be as big a blow for Murali Vijay and Narayan Jagadeesan, two of the locals in the squad, and others like Suresh Raina who are the city’s favourite adopted sons.

Matthew Hayden was once one, having represented the team in yellow for the first three seasons. Now part of the IPL commentary roster, he just shook his head ruefully when asked about the games being shifted out of Chennai. “It’s so sad,” he said. “It’s such an incredible fan base.”

“I was born and brought up in Chennai and when I went to the stadium, there were a lot of emotions,” said Subramaniam Badrinath, who played two Tests for India. He spent half a decade with CSK, an experience he will forever cherish. “All my family, friends, and fans were looking up to us,” he said. “That really helped me, Vijay and R Ashwin. To be playing in Chepauk in front of the home crowd was really special.”

It wasn’t just the home boys who sang their praises either. Back in 1999, Sachin Tendulkar made one of his greatest hundreds – 136 while nursing a back injury – but Pakistan prevailed by 12 runs in an epic Test match. Swallowing their disappointment, the Chepauk crowd stood and gave the Pakistanis a tremendous ovation. More than one Pakistani player has become misty-eyed when talking of that afternoon.

Now, thanks to the actions of a few louts, a venue that represented the best of Indian cricket has seen its reputation tarnished. It could be a long while before thousands of genuine fans catch a glimpse of their heroes again.