R Ashwin and M Vijay are different characters in quite a few respects. While Ashwin is an extrovert, Vijay opens up only to a select few. Ashwin is a Rajinikanth fan, but Vijay swears by Kamal Haasan. For a long time they represented rival teams in the citys first-division league.Their paths, however, converge at their mothership: Chennai. Many in the city dote on them - they are currently Chennais biggest cricketing icons - and they cant love it back enough.They last played a Test match in Chennai nearly four years ago with contrasting fortunes - Ashwin grabbed 12 wickets whereas Vijay could muster only 16 runs in two innings and was probably one failure away from being dropped. However, when they head to Chepauk on Friday morning, such memories will come a distant second to the emotions that have surrounded them and their city over the last few days.Chennai has had two horrific Decembers in succession, with Cyclone Vardah ripping through the city, uprooting trees, claiming lives, and dismantling communication and logistics. Vijay and Ashwin have been deeply affected, just as they were during the floods that claimed hundreds of lives last year. This time they have also had to cope with personal bereavement: while it is learnt that the brother of Ashwins grandfather died during the cyclone, Vijay dedicated his century in Mumbai to a close friends father who had passed away on the first day of the Test.Former India wicketkeeper Bharath Reddy, who is in charge of Jolly Rovers - the team that Vijay played for in the TNCA league - says Vijay kept tabs of the situation on the ground in Chennai while he was away. I am sure he will try to get a hundred and dedicate it to the victims of the cyclone, Reddy says. While he was away from Chennai, he checked with me to see how people were, and also told me, If anybody approaches you for help, let me know. I am willing to help them when this tour finishes.Vijays love for people, according to Reddy, means he also fancies a career in politics once his playing days are over. He is 100% [a Chennai boy at heart], thats why he wants to get into politics, Reddy says. He has been telling me this for the last two years. He is a fun-loving person, he feels safe in this place and he feels like a king also, which undoubtedly he is because he is a Chennai boy.Former Tamil Nadu batsman R Prasanna, who counts among a handful of Vijays best friends, recalls a conversation with Vijay sometime in 2008 when he hadnt yet become a part of the IPL. Vijay, according to Prasanna, wanted Chennai to be the first franchise he turned out for. I still remember that we were discussing this at a tea shop opposite to the stadium after our Ranji Trophy camp. He went on to play for Chennai Super Kings and that proved to be a big break for him. Whenever he is out of Chennai, he longs to return to the city as soon as he can and spend time with his friends, Prasanna says. During the floods last year, he was away in Delhi for the Test match against South Africa, but was anxious about my safety in Chennai. We spoke a week after the floods, and he said he would come home because he hadnt seen my baby daughter till then.Sai Kumar, a close friend of Ashwin who lives and works in the UK, says Ashwin, too, did his bit during the floods. During the floods last year, Ashwin wasnt available - I think he and Prithi [Ashwins wife] were in Delhi for the Test match against South Africa - but he was trying to help in whatever way he could. Although he couldnt be physically present, he was retweeting all the tweets on the flood situation. He even donated notebooks to one of the schools.[The cyclone aftermath] is a very tough time, and this is the ground he has grown up playing on, so emotions will definitely run high. Knowing his personality, I am sure he will rock in Chennai.In 2013, when Ashwin garroted Australia, he said Chepauk had never looked more beautiful. I was in complete awe, smiling all through. I feel the air talks to me, he said then. Even if it turns out to be my last Test match, this will remain the happiest moment of my life.Four years on, Ashwin and Vijay are quite some way from the finishing line, and are in a far better space. Chennai will turn up in numbers and I am pretty sure about it, Ashwin told bcci.tv. The only factor will be how easily it is accessible from outside - because the trees have fallen all over the city, the commuting is a bit of a problem. But, if there is any city that will come back to its feet fast, it is Chennai. When my name is announced to bowl or bat, the way the crowd will erupt is something I really look forward to.And erupt it will, each time Ashwin and Vijay set foot on the ground. Air Max Wholesale China . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Nike Air Max Cheap Wholesale . -- Anaheim Ducks defenceman Luca Sbisa will be out at least six weeks with a torn tendon in his right hand. http://www.airmaxclearance.com/ . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Cheap Wholesale Air Max . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. Air Max Wholesale Free Shipping . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. PITTSBURGH -- Ben Roethlisberger did everything perfectly. The fake spike that momentarily fooled the Dallas Cowboys. The perfect lob to Antonio Brown that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers the lead and appeared to be the perfect jolt they needed to jumpstart a sagging season.Only one problem: There was too much time. Far too much. The sense of joy lasted all of 31 seconds, or the time it took the Cowboys to go 75 yards, the final 32 on Ezekiel Elliotts dash to the end zone that gave Dallas a 35-30 victory and sent Pittsburgh to its fourth straight loss.Soaring in October, the Steelers (4-5) are sinking as Thanksgiving approaches. Not even 408 yards and three touchdowns from Roethlisberger, 154 yards receiving by Brown and 134 total yards and two scores by LeVeon Bell could prevent another baffling breakdown.We are undisciplined and not accountable, Roethlisberger said. Thats why they are one of the best in the business and we are not right now.Certainly not the way theyre playing, particularly on defense. Twice in the fourth quarter Pittsburgh was one stop away from ending the Cowboys seven-game winning streak. And twice the Steelers offered little resistance as Dallas rookies Dak Prescott and Elliott did whatever they wanted, hardly bothered by the largest crowd to watch a Steelers home game in club history.Two drives. Both 75 yards. Both ending with Elliott racing across the goal line and a series of black-and-gold clad defenders futilely giving chase.It sucks losing regardless, but especially in critical moments of the game when theyre getting big plays and youre trying to do everything you can to stop them, linebacker Ryan Shazier said. This one really stings a lot.Expected to be in the thick of the AFC race thanks to one of the most talented offenses in the league, the Steelers arent even in first in an underwhelming AFC North. They will head to winless Cleveland next week hoping to end their longest losing streak since dropping the first four games of the 2013 season.Its just unacceptable, defensive end Cam Heyward said.Roethlisberger played poorly last week in his return from left knee surgery, a dismal loss in Baltimore, but told his teammates to follow me with a chance to prove themselves against the NFLs hottest team. While there were moments of brilliance, each one appeared to be met with an equally boneheaded step backward.Afteer Roethlisberger hit Eli Rogers for a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter to give the Steelers an early 12-3 lead, a pair of Cowboy penalties put Dallas into a first-and-25 hole.dddddddddddd No matter. Two plays later Elliott took a screen pass, picked up a couple of blocks and ran 83 yards to put Dallas right back in it.Bell stretched the ball into the end zone from 1 yard out with 7:51 left to give the Steelers a 24-23 advantage. Dallas went 75 yards in 10 plays, ending with Elliotts 14-yard dash with 1:55 left.Roethlisberger calmly took the Steelers right back down the field and channeled his inner Dan Marino with the clock running and the ball at the Dallas 15. The quarterback took the snap and pretended to ground the ball. Instead he held on to it and hit a streaking Brown for a touchdown that again gave Pittsburgh a one-point advantage.You take a lead so it feels pretty good, Roethlisberger said.Fleeting too. Prescott moved the Cowboys into field goal range helped by a 15-yard facemask penalty on Steelers rookie safety Sean Davis.It was a critical time, Davis said. When seconds go by I was just trying to get him down, poke the ball, grab something and he just ducked. Once I felt my fingers in his facemask I let go.Control of the game followed suit. Instead of settling for a long field goal attempt, the Cowboys instead kept plowing ahead with Elliott going 32 yards right up the middle for the deciding score.We can sit here and say its a great learning example, but learning doesnt get you wins, Heyward said. Were no longer allowed to keep doing that.Not if they want to salvage what once looked like a promising year.TWO MUCH?The Steelers set an NFL record last year by converting eight 2-point conversions, some of them in nontraditional situations early in the game. They went 0 for 4 on Sunday, chasing points all afternoon after they botched a pair of attempts in the first quarter.We want to be aggressive, Roethlisberger said. We practice it every day. We need to be better at it.INJURIESBackup linebacker Steven Johnson left in the first quarter with a broken ankle. 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