Thursday, May 5, 2011

Visit to a IPL match in a Cricket Stadium

For those who keep reading my blog, know that I am not a big fan of cricket, my friends had literally cursed me for my views about the worldcup. But I have to say the freaking excitement people got after India won the semi-final and finals I was really left wondering whats the big deal about cricket. Its such a boring game.

But then I am not know to be a very patient fellow, so the 20-20 format of cricket might be made for people like me who don't like wasting a entire day for a silly game, watched a few matches on TV but still I didn't understand whats so great about cricket.

People used to talk about the atmosphere in the stadium, So when a friend of mine from office said he is going for a IPL match, I said even I am coming, forget the 740 Bucks for the ticket (there are even more costly tickets, we took the cheapest one). I wanted to know what this atmosphere was.

So on 4th of May I was going to watch Mumbai Indians Vs Pune Warriors (A thought: Are IPL teams dividing India on the basics of city and state at the time when we need more unity in India?)

The first question my dear friend asked me when he saw me in the morning was "Why are you supporting Pune?" I was like "what do you mean? I am coming to watch the match, and not really supporting either team." He said, "You are wearing Black, Black is Pune teams color, don't you know? You should have worn Blue, Mumbai Indians color". So that was my introduction to the match.

Anyway we left office early, another colleague of mine had brought his car, so the trip to the stadium was comfortable, only thing was the traffic and finding a parking spot over there. I have to say the D.Y Patil stadium people & Policemen there really tried there level to keep traffic moving, but the crowd was so great that it was a failed effort from there part. But one real bad part was converting of E-Tickets (printed from the Internet) to the actual tickets, It was not at all organized properly. The ticket converting place was at one end of the stadium while entrances was at the other end so had a real big walk, also the managing of giving the tickets was also bad.

Anyway after collecting the tickets we entered the stadium, we are not allowed to take in anything to the stadium, not even water. Luckily everyone of us had left our stuff in the vehicle itself. But I can understand the security aspect of not allowing to take anything inside. But what irritated me was the lootofying of people inside by the D.Y Patil stadium people cause of it. 20Rs for a small glass of water, For 2 small samsosa Rs. 60, For a glass of pepsi (half filled with ice) Rs. 60 again. Plain robbery. I am not even talking about the cost of other foods. You guys are not allowing us to carry water inside, then coolers should have been kept for the public. Already the ticket costs are so high on top of that you are keeping this extravagant cost also.

By the time we reached our seats (P-stand, 4th level, at the very top of the stadium) the toss was over and the match was about to start, Need to point out even though D.Y Patil stadium is Pune warriors home ground majority of supporters were of Mumbai. (To be expected, as stadium is at Mumbai). First batting was of Mumbai Indians, Opening pair of  Blizzard & Sachin, the feeling was like the entire stadium had come just to see Sachin not the match.

Seeing the players on the ground my friends who had come with me were able to differentiate between different cricketers from such a distance, but for me all looked the same, I was reminded of a old Cricket game on my PC in which you get the ground view, and the ball racing towards the boundary ;). Even the cheer leaders were very far from our seats for me to enjoy their show also :(

No commendatory in the stadium, I was missing the irritating voice of the commentators which we are so used to while watching match on television to keep us in the know whats happening on the field.

I have to agree the first Innings was fun, with Mumbai Indians cheerleaders dancing at every four-sixes on any song the DJ was playing, and there were plenty of fours & sixes. It was fun, but I have to say the second innings was boring, DJ & music stopped at 10 P.M due to the noise rules, Pune lost their first wicket on first ball itself and the second innings was real boring. I was bored.

Am sure interested people have already watched the match on TV, or read the newspaper for details so I am not going into match details (I am sure I won't do justice to it also). But some points of the match was real fun, Like listening to the crowd cheering for Sachin, really people consider him God (I don't), the ball from Malinga to Yuvraj in which he got out, Yuvraj feel down, (the crowds reaction), apart from that the masti my office-mates were doing. Had a nice time. My friend mentioned about hearing the sweet sound of ball hitting the bat, I heard the sound, but sorry my friend, I don't know what you found sweet in that. (It was after the DJ was turned off, and the crowd was quite, I preferred the music and the noisy crowd buddy)

So is the atmosphere inside the stadium different, Nope Its still oxygen-nitrogen mix, Am I more interested in cricket after the visit to the stadium-Nope, was it worth 740 Bucks - Nope, Match will be more fun to watch on a big screen with your friends. Will I go to a stadium again to watch - not if I am paying 740 bucks, anyone else takes me I will be glad to go.

But I want to say thanks to that friend of mine, who took the inisative for going to the match, Thanks Rashesh for the Cricket Stadium experience


2 comments:

bharat said...

Thanks Rashesh for the Cricket Stadium experience

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