If you want to see a cricket match, witness it live at the stadium. That’s what I was able to infer by seeing one match live. The elements of competition were Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers. It was an early match of the Indian Premier League. Foreigners (if any!), the Indian Premier League is the English Premier League with football replaced by cricket, now you are free to let your imaginations fly at this.
The match was to start at 1600 hours. My gang consisting of seven guys presented their attendance (without proxies....) at the heavenly Eden Gardens by 1400 hours. We actually had ten tickets but three did not turn up. Then I tried my hand at black ticket selling. The selling was completed smoothly but ultimately I had incurred a loss of 150 INR. Loss at black tickets! :)
Anyways, on entering the stadium we found the players doing their net practice. The feeling we derived on seeing our very own ‘dada’ trying his luck at batting, LIVE, was really ecstatic. No television can ever equal this thing no matter how many inches it has. Though the sun was shining at its brightest level, we never felt a bit hot. The game was enough to cool us off. Inscribed in the gallery were two giant screens, in case you miss on the real play. The atmosphere at the stadium is beyond the scope of words. People were cheering away to support the Knight Riders. Intermittently there were Mexican waves generated through the stadium. Finally the toss took place and our team started off to ball.
In my hostel I always saw my seniors sitting in front of the television and shouting away to glory. But I just couldn’t see through it after experiencing live. The fun just fades away. Now speaking of the match, the opponents made a total of 136. Not a very big score to the chased. In the lunch break, our platter consisted of 3 different varieties of potato wafers, chicken patties and plastic water pouches (the only body hydrant source). It was a bit tough to gather these in the overcrowded stadium. Then it was time for the Knight Riders to bat. This time the crowd was even more energetic. May be the chicken had the upper hand at this! The Knight Riders played really well and surpassed the target specified. The fans had a sigh of relief. The prize distribution followed. Yes, as far celebrities goes, Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Katrina Kaif, Brian Lara were among the names to be mentioned. They were seated quite far from us (distance wise as well the pricing of the seating gallery goes... 300 INR and 32000 INR!). Then it was time to depart only hoping that soon we get back here.
