One night @ the ball center: IPL

I didn’t want to. Never thought I would. But it was so captivating that here I am writing a blog entry. May 21^st, 2008 it was. The match was between Chennai Super Kings and Bangalore Royal Challengers. Having got the tickets (Rs.200 ones) three days back, I was eagerly awaiting the change from the monotonic holidays that I was having. The day arrived. It got along with it some spells of moderate rain, enough to make any ticket holder anxious. Hoping to see some cricket, I proceeded to the stadium along with my cousin and few friends. The next six hours were one of the most action packed periods I have witnessed, so much so that the match became secondary to all of us.

Music was on air when we entered the stand. We took the first row quite close to the square boundary but with a grill fence in between. Ours was the only fully filled stand in the stadium, quite understandably. The music show had Tipu and Srileka Parthasarathy showing off their singing talents and the famous Tamil beats made the audience to dance to their tunes, including the author. The next one-hour invigorated our minds though all our energy were drained away. Meanwhile we were witnessing the ground staff drain away the water from the fields and few players take catching practice. The drizzles continued but that was forgotten when drummer Sivamani started his beats. Then came the real fun…

So much hue and cry were made about the cheer girls and their dress that one thought it must be an exaggeration. How can cheer girls glamorize cricket so much that the match itself takes a backseat? Well it did!! There they came and the whole stand started gaping at them. Especially the girls of team Bangalore (thankfully we choose this match to watch!). The short ‘Shorts’ and deep cut ‘Tops’ attire was sensual enough to make any dad sitting with his children feel embarrassed. Shouts of ‘I love you’ filled the air and for once everyone wanted Bangalore to hit some boundaries to see these girls in ‘action’. The height of excitement came when former SS Music VJ Lekha Washington walked passed us in strapless tops and low fit jeans.

The match was becoming predictable. Bangalore was struggling and there was no way they could possibly put up a fight. Chennai bowlers were too strong and Dravid fought a lone battle. The total of 126 in 20 overs, the least by any team that played full quota of overs in IPL, was in no way respectable. Chennai started confidently. 60 for 0 in 9 overs meant there was only one result that the match was heading to. We were disappointed, as after all we had paid to witness a good match in the first place. Especially the author, who wanted Bangalore to do well for more than one reason. Suddenly things changed. Kumble and Steyn got the Royal Challengers back into the match and some poor shot selection by Super Kings batsmen made them gift the match to the Royal Challengers. The Chennai crowd became furious and empty bottles were being thrown into the ground. The following few minutes saw some commotion; the cheer girls had to run away while the police personnel lathi-charged a few.

The fun ended there but the night was surely memorable. The music, the dance, the rain, the cheer girls, the crowd, the match, the company (and that certain mischievous friends of mine flicked burgers from stalls!), the atmosphere, everything made us have a ball in M.A.Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk. So much for Rs.200!!