Aided by complementary passes from a generous friend to Mumbai Indians' first game at home versus Rajasthan Royals; I set out to watch my first IPL match. Mumbai Indians had been an under performing team in the previous two editions of IPL and would've wanted to set records straight. Rajasthan Royals on the other hand, Champions in the first edition had slightly lost sting in the second. Reached the venue on time but took a while to get in. The atmosphere was electrifying and one of pure frenzy. Even the scorching sun couldnt dampen spirits of supporters and cricket enthusiasts of all ages swarming the Brabourne Stadium.
Mumbai's favourite cricketing son, Tendulkar's short stay at the crease might have disappointed a few but young turks Tare, Saurabh Tiwary & Ambati Rayudu played some scintillating strokes and kept the Mumbai crowd on their feet and their noise levels at a deafening maximum. Mumbai on a smallish ground reached 212 in their stipulated 20 overs leaving Rajasthan Royals with a mountain and more to climb.
Straying out of the stand during the match interval, I entered the VIP banquet serving complementary snacks and beer. Could it get better? Rajasthan made steady progress towards their target without looking too dangerous. All of a sudden RR found themselves in a pit at 70/4 in 10 overs. Yusuf Pathan then unleashed one of those knocks you see once in a lifetime, not for the grace, patience or silkiness it carried, but for pure brute force, power and aggression. Hitting at will he took Rajasthan to sniffing distance of their target before getting out the only way he could that day; run out! I couldnt resist supporting Rajasthan, the eternal IPL underdog, and Yusuf Pathan in the midst of Mumbai supporters. Yusuf was dismissed for 100 off 37 balls and Rajasthan went on to lose by 4 runs. But what the match did was give IPL and amazing launch. Just the previous day Deccan lost from a winning position in a thriller to Kolkata.
Cans of Kingfisher beer, a riveting encounter and an astounding innings by Yusuf Pathan. Thats exactly what the doctor ordered for every cricket enthusiast in India. Nothing can match the popularity of cricket in India. And that was evident from the scenes at the stadium and outside of it and of course in all the cricket crazy youths and adults rooting and cheering for their favourite franchise in the IPL. Proof that people love cricket and this format comes from the packed houses in the two new venues Ahmedabad and Cuttack and two more soon to be played in. Its a matter of immense pleasure that IPL is going to be played in Himachal Pradesh in the picturesque ground at Dharamsala.
Lalit Modi had envisioned city-based loyalties for IPL franchises. Try how the Kolkata crowd reacts when Tendulkar's in full flow or Chennai crowd's deafening applause when Sehwag unleashes a vintage innings or how spectators in Ahmedabad react when Ganguly is out in the centre. That, for the uninitiated, is Indian cricket!
But amidst all this T20 cricket have we forgotten the real cricket; Test & ODIs? Dare I think so! Test Cricket is here to stay feel all those already a part of their international sides. The negative trend of people opting to become freelancers than playing for their country has begun with Flintoff. How do we stop this slide? Its time IPL got a separate window in a year, without stepping on international commitments the teams have.
Hoping we get to see more riveting encounters like the Punjab vs Chennai one which went into the Super Over stage. Such games, I am sure, arent enjoyed by players as much as the audiences do!
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