On Friday, 40,000 of them got drunk on a heady mix of cricket and Bollywood or probably the other way around.
BANGALORE: Any iota of doubt about the Indian Premier League’s newly concocted city teams drawing the crowds vanished just after noon at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the home of the Royal Challengers.
Since MS Dhoni and his merry boys took the world by storm in South Africa last September, the shortest version of the game has occupied the mind space of the most passionate and vocal cricket fans in the world, a billion of them and counting.
On Friday, 40,000 of them got drunk on a heady mix of cricket and Bollywood or probably the other way around.
Early indications are that the superstars, tycoons and the BCCI badshahs, who invested their money and put their reputation at stake in the game’s revolutionary evolution, will go laughing all the way to the bank sooner rather than later.
The thousands, a good number who had picked up the tickets online, did so knowing very well that they were not just buying a pass to a game of T20. When the lights came on, they danced, swayed and thumped their feet as the entertainment flowed first as expected.
MS Dhoni didn’t really let his hair down, rather he wore a suit; VVS Laxman looked amused, and the peerless Sachin Tendulkar on this occasion wasn’t the only star attraction as some of Indian cricket’s legends, pin-up boys and an Australian hero waited for their turn under the spotlight.
The who’s who of media, present in Bangalore, will take the awe that accompanied the unveiling of BCCI’s grand league — the first sporting venture in the world where players were auctioned to the eight franchisees.
As the fireworks lit up the sky and the Chinnaswamy Stadium resounded with the sound of crackers, it was clear for all to see that at least the first day, first show of the IPL matched the hype in the run-up to the event. The toss is a mere formality in T20 — that is played on bland batsmen-friendly wickets.
In Bangalore, as the night wore on, there was genuine concern if the tradition of flipping a coin had been forgotten. Well, not just yet. Ravi Shastri, the master of ceremonies, got it done away with quickly just as BCCI president Sharad Pawar, ICC president Ray Mali and Lalit Modi, the brain behind the IPL, were wise enough not to prepare long-winding speeches.
Soon the cricketers walked out. The music died out briefly.
Sourav Ganguly took guard and swing bowler Praveen Kumar marked out his run-up. There was some cricket to be played too.
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