Virender Sehwag steals the show at the Madurai team jersey launch
The Madurai Supergiants team, owned by Kothari (Madras) International Ltd, launched their official logo, jersey and anthem on Wednesday, August 10 at Crowne Plaza, Chennai. Former India batsman Virender Sehwag graced the event along with the team director Dayanidhi Alagiri, former Indian legspinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Kollywood actor Silambarasan, music director Anirudh Ravichandar and the music composer of the Madurai anthem, Thaman.
Sehwag, after unveiling the Madurai team's orange and blue jersey conveyed his wishes to the team, and said, ‘'I wish to extend my congratulations to TN Premier League for giving an opportunity to the youngsters and district players. It is a chance for these players to showcase their talent and hopefully they get to play First-Class cricket and thereafter play for the national team as well.'’
Dayanidhi was happy he could combine both his passions — cricket and the city of Madurai — and thanked the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) for giving young players an opportunity to showcase their skills.
When asked about the significance of the Madurai logo, he said, "We wanted to have something that represents Madurai city and since the Meenakshi Temple has been used in several places, we decided to have the bull. We had already decided the name for the franchise and because Madurai is also famous for jallikattu, we thought of representing the bull as the giant.”
The team anthem, 'Aataiku Readya', sung by Silambarasan is a peppy number and Dayanidhi elaborated about the same, "The idea was to have a kuthu song as an anthem for the franchise, since no cricket team has had a fast number as an anthem before. The first person that came to my mind as the music composer was Thaman, since he is equally passionate about the game. Simbu (Silambarasan) has a good base voice which suited the tone of the song and hence we roped him in to sing for us.”
Silambarasan felt cricket is a passion in India and shared his experiences as an Under-15 player. He added, ''Such a platform is a boon for players and I wish the youngsters make use of this opportunity.'' Sivaramakrishnan was impressed with the Madurai team for picking eight district players out of their squad of 18 and hoped for emergence of new talent in the inaugural edition of the TN Premier League.