As we enter the business end of the IPL, we bring you a series of posts in which we review each IPL team’s uniform. The good, the bad, and the ugly–VJ Andy and Guylife’s own Harsh Kalan have a no-holds-barred, no-detail-left-uncovered look at this season’s IPL team uniforms.

VJ Andy: You probably know VJ Andy from his wildly successful Channel V shows like Dare to Date, Date My Folks, U R Fired, Get Gorgeous, among several others. What you probably don’t know is that he also has a fashion/costume design background, with credits for work on films including Tashan, Bachna E Haseeno and Ghajini.

He has also worked for some of India’s top designers, including Suneet Varma, JJ Valaya, Rahul Gandhi, and Rohit Sharma. You can connect with this multi-talented youth icon (he started his career as a choreographer!) at @iamVJAndy and on Facebook.  

Harsh Kalan: Harsh Kalan is a writer and freelance graphic designer based in Mumbai. Along with writing for Guylife, he has been designing logos and identities for a gamut of brands for several years. He is, however, most passionate about sports, and follows the IPL avidly–both for work and fun. You can connect with him on Twitter at @harshkalan

Harsh: The basic look of the Chennai Super Kings hasn’t really changed over the years. In fact the only thing that has changed in this uniform is the placement/replacement/addition of sponsors’ logos. While it looked quite jarring in the beginning, by now cricket fans have learned to accept this rather loud uniform.

But the gaudy color apart, the core jersey and trousers have a decent design. With a screen-printed lion on the gut, and a few orange and blue stripes and panels here and there, this uniform comes together pretty well. 

Name And Number: The CSK player id is printed in a variation of navy-blue. This contrasts with the yellow jersey, making the player name and number easy to read. Good job with that one!

Helmet: The yellow dome has become a trademark of sorts when it comes to winning the IPL. While it adds another monocolored element to an outfit that begs for contrast (save for the name and number), it’s one of those things that we have now gotten used to! And so it has now become irreplaceable–that is until a sponsor decides they need a contrasting helmet for their logo to shine through. Oh and this year the helmet has a cool (not!) ‘USHA Fans’ logo on the batsman’s leading side (the side that is facing the bowler, ergo TV cameras, when the batter is on strike). Other than that, there’s an ‘Aircel’ sticker on the back.

Cap: It’s a bland yellow cap with ‘USHA’ written on the leading side,’ Aircel’ on the back and the CSK logo in front. While I love understated caps, I have to say a plain yellow cap begs for some additional contrasting elements. How about a dash of navy blue and a hint of orange (as is the case with the jersey)?

Pads: The pads add to the yellow overdose. Ideally, the makers of this uniform should have gone with contrasting trousers to complement the yellow jersey, yellow helmet and the yellow pads. Well they didn’t, and what we have is a complete jalebi effect now!

Miscellaneous: The primary sponsor, ‘Aircel’ has been with CSK since IPL 2008, and their colors–blue and red–go well with the stripes and panels on this uni. Even the rest of the sponsors somehow manage to blend into this uniform. This is mostly because of the fact that the largely open yellow white space on the CSK jersey could use a few extra elements. And also because sponsors’ logos on this jersey don’t look like stickers that have been slapped on at the last minute! 

Of course, this in no way justifies what I like to call the secondary sponsor or the sponsor above the name and number on the back; which in this case is India Cements. Then again, all teams in the IPL have slowly adopted this template, and sport secondary sponsors where ideally there should be a player’s name.

Key Change: The uni-obsessed lot might have noticed a small, yet vital, change in the CSK look this year. I am, of course, referring to the lack of ‘Reebok’ branding on their threads. This is surprising considering that the sportswear giant is very much a sponsor of this team. Reebok has made way for ‘Life Ok’ on the back arm (the one which is not the leading arm!) of the jersey. There’s also no mention of the brand on the trousers anymore. 

VJ Andy: C’ est Terrible! Honestly, any clinical fashion monkey could have designed a better uniform with their eyes closed. To make matters worse, two different shades of yellow have been used for the jersey and the bottoms (at least that’s how it looks). 

All in all, the uniform has a very monotonous ring to it. The arrows and stripes help draw attention to a major problem area–the bellies–and the oddly fitting pants stirs up images of bad 70’s fashion, especially the unflattering polyester fabric. Perhaps NASA should consider using this colour though, since you can definitely see this team from outer space!

Guylife Rating: 5/10