Roar of the Lion: A series on Chennai Super Kings' dramatic IPL journey

As IPL 2019 begins today, a new series on the Chennai Super Kings purports to tell all about past scandals

The ball gently left his foot, drawing in the air a feathery parabola that was almost anti-physics. It hung in the air for a while, before descending on goal in the most exasperatingly glorious slow motion. It then rippled the net ever so slightly, drawing chants not of thunderous appreciation, but of muted acknowledgment. Then, seconds later, once the hypnotic quality of it all had worn off, they all got into it: “Messi, Messi, Messi!”

This was supposed to be the defining sporting image of this week, perhaps the entire year. There is something beatific about everything that Lionel Messi