A lost comb, Baking Bowl and A Proud City!

Memories of India's Cricket World Cup debacle in1992 and 1999 editions continue to haunt me. India's campaigns in those two editions were like a nightmare.  2007 World Cup was more horrible but at least it got over even before we realised that something horrible was happening.  6 week long World Cups can be a nightmare for a team in alien conditions and specially when things start falling apart for them. You need to have either a true leader who can pull you out of a rut or a closely knit team who would stand for each other. India lacked both these factors in those editions. 

Yesterday watching English team fall apart into last 15 over of the South African batting inning and for whatever period they batted was really painful. It is not that I am English cricket fan but for the reason that when you sit in a baking bowl at 37.5 degree Celsius with high prices tickets, where only option available to you are soft drink and samosas at an exorbitant price then you believe that you deserve a closely contested battle between two top cricketing nations of the World.

Dilip Vengsarkar Stand 

The completely inconvenient view offered by some seats in the Dilip Vengsarkar Stand is unacceptable and BCCI simply shouldn't sell these tickets. The iron gate, television cameras, cameramen and big umbrellas above them to protect the cameramen from sun were completely blocking spectators' view of the proceeding. Imagine this in scorching heat of 37.5 degree Celsius!! You take pity on your decision to buy these tickets and also on your brother and Kiran whom you have convinced to join you to watch this action. 

Security Checks 

Security checks at the gate were stringent enough as expected and for valid reasons. There were couple of times when we had to go through the drill of getting ourself frisked by the security personnel.  One thing which I missed reading in the instructions was not to carry a comb and coins.  I donated maybe around 35 INR in the coins possibly to BCCI but more importantly had to depart with my dear comb which most probably was bought at lesser price but to which I was sort of attached !!

I had a long look at the comb before throwing it into the tray. Luckily there it was a accompanied by many more combs of owners who were equally ignorant  and a lot of coins of Indian currency which was donated to BCCI. I felt relieved at the thought that at least the comb had some company.

Apathy towards Fans

BCCI really needs to care about the Indian fans who come in such large numbers to watch a cricket match in such adverse conditions which even doesn't involve the home team. They come to the stadium using public transport braving harsh weather just for their love of cricket. One of the richest Sports organisations of the world needs to do justice to true Cricket Lovers!

Conditions of rest rooms were little bit improved since last time we visited Wankhede.  But they no were nowhere near the condition of being termed as clean!  Conditions of seats were sort of average and there were at least some persons available within the stadium who could listen to you and your complaints. Not that they would take action on your feedback but at least you get some comfort in the fact that someone is listening to you. In modern world, that is number one need of a human being.  Once you enter the stadium, please remember that for next 9 to 10 Hours the access to water and decent food will be  real luxury.  All cold drinks were exorbitantly priced. Coke, Fanta and samosa were available easily. Sprite was available only if you are really lucky. Not making Water available in the stands is totally unacceptable. 

The various challenges related to having a decent view of the action (which I mentioned earlier) affected most of the spectators  who were supposed to have seat into that specific part of the Dilip Vengsarkar Stand.  These are the seats which are supposed to be very close to the boundary line and give you fantastic view of the action from both the ends.  But iron gate,  television camera and the umbrellas above them deprived close to 200 spectators of that view. Since there were some empty seats available within the stand these spectators (including us) somehow adjusted themselves 

By 5 PM stadium was almost full. The rightful owners of these seats started arriving now but most of them were accommodative and took whichever seat which was available to them rather than insisting on the better seats for which they had the tickets.  But in our case we were not so lucky and the original occupants insisted that they wanted to have that those seats but by the time we were into 45th over of the South African innings.  We went back to our original seats and requested the occupants to find another set of seats to which readily obliged. 

Are we getting too loud, too arrogant 

I really get worried about the face of Indian community which comes out into the social life. There was this group of 5 - 6 aggressive youths who were shouting slogans and making some fun.  Most of the time it was entertaining but whenever players such as Malan, Stones and Livingstone came very close to us they started shouting slogans related to Kohinoor diamond, British rule and so on so forth. In case of Ben Stokes his complete name was pronounced in a obscene manner.  When Malan came first time and people shouted his name, he actually was gracious enough to fold his hands to them and say namaste but then after this group created this unnecessarily fuss, then English player started ignoring all the shouts coming from the spectators.  This is something which should have been avoided at any cost.  The volunteers who were present in the ground should have been authorised to give warning to these individuals and evacuate them if necessary.  During the innings  break the announcement was made and after that there will no further slogans.  We as a society need to care about the our image in the world.  In terms of the education, impact in economy we are making significant impact and reaching the Pinnacle of the World. But the virtue for which Indians have been known for centuries that is the culture and humbleness seems to depart us at a rapid space and no one seems to be worried about it. 

 

 

Annoying DJ and disturbing noise levels

The other part which was so annoying was the DJ which was playing at a ridiculously higher decibel levels.  There was no business to have a DJ playing out some random noisy songs when high quality Cricket was being played in the middle of the ground. At one point announcer asked all the spectators to turn on their mobile torch light in the middle of an over!! Can you imagine this??  Really don't know what's happening to us!!

Memorable Experience 

So all the above is me venting out about the things which didn't work out well. This is written not because I didn't enjoy the match but with hope that somehow this article reaches the right folks and decide to act on it! Now here is the important part. what I experienced in those 7 hours was really amazing. If my schedule permits I would love to go to see any international match live in Wankhede Stadium (please take those DJs out!!). 

What we see on the television is just a very very limited view of what is happening on the ground.  It is really mesmerising experience to see such high quality World sports professionals in action from such a close distance. Fitness levels of all this cricketers were simply amazing.  When we arrived at the ground at around 1:30 PM both the teams were practicing in the scorching heat. Despite such adverse conditions the dedication levels in the practice session itself was at really high level.  During the match, South Africans were really at a different level of the fitness. Catch taken by Rabada, attempted catch by Quinton De Cock running behind at breathtaking speed were simply out of this World. 

No faith in Bowling?

Obvious question was why did Butler chose to put his bowlers in this bowl of scorching hit and test their physical fitness levels. It always helps to have a cricket expert seated next to you. My elder brother had answer to this.  Despite losing to Afghanistan while chasing in Delhi,  Butler again (on another second consecutive Saturday) chose to chase primarily because of the lack of  faith in the ability of his bowlers to defend a total.  He always thought that his best chance of winning lies in his team chasing whatever total South Africans would post on the board.  May be Butler was right on a normal day, but yesterday was the day when all mayhem broke loose. He would have hardly imagine that South Africans would set them target of 400. 

When Topley got De Cock out on the second ball of the innings, Butler's decision to ball first seems to be on the track. Hendricks and Van Der Dussen were so professional for the first 10-12 overs. They took no risks, all cricketing shots and managed to move the scoreboard ticking with the help of ones and the twos with intermittent boundaries. They reached their fifties one after other.  Dussen left soon after that but Hendricks accelerated very nicely.  The ball was coming in a predictable manner on the pitch and the bounce was true. It was painful to see Wood getting hit so easily but then it was obvious that on this flat pitch with even bounce and without trace of swing he was very predictable. 

Amazing Proteas 

Markram played a very patient innings of 42.  When Miller departed after scoring only 5 runs, the score read at 243-5 after 36.3 overs. There was a possibility that England could keep South Africans within a reasonable score of 325 or so. All they needed was to take get one of Klassen or Jansen out early. they did manage to get Klassen out, but it was only after 13 overs later during which these two had added whopping 150 runs. It was a treat to watch these two play amazing cricketing shots on different sides of the ground; some with brutal power, some with pure elegance. Evening had cast its spell on Wankhede and it was turning into a pleasant experience by now. 

 

 

Soon South African innings ended at 399/7 after stipulated 50 overs. It was obvious that it was going to be a herculean task to chase this target successfully but then the team chasing was not any ordinary team. It was the team which is reigning World Champion and has trusted in Bazball philosophy with astonishing results in recent years. Earlier 50 overs were expected to be over in 3 and half hours but may be due to extreme weather conditions teams have been given 4 hours to complete these 50 overs. 

Sanjiv (my brother) and I were discussing that to have realistic chance of chasing this score, England needed to get 100 without losing more than 1 wicket. Unfortunately for them Bairstow is not in best of his form. Few months earlier he would help his team get off to a rapid start. Another difference is the pace levels of top three South African bowlers. They have ability to generate 140 kmph + deliveries at amazing consistency. You really need to see first 10 overs through without doing much damage to the wicket section of the scorecard. England were obviously overwhelmed with the target of 400 and none of their top order batsmen played with any purpose. After hitting a boundary and a six Bairstow holed out to long leg. Yes it was a great catch by Dussen but Bairstow should have been more careful when he knew that to have England realistic chance of getting anywhere near to that mammoth total, he had to be there at least for first 15 overs. 

Senseless Batting Display by England

What followed after that was display of spineless batting by some of the top batsmen in the World. Malan was caught behind, Root simply flicked to the leg slip placed for him. How often you would see that happen in a One Day match? It was first match for Ben Stokes in the World cup, but it never felt that he was comfortable during his brief stint at the wicket. He was nice caught and bowled by Rabada. For some reason, I felt Ben was not at all comfortable at any point the day. Must have been difficult for Butler to captain this aging hero. When Butler and Brook left in quick succession it was almost over. The knowledgable Wankhede spectators had started leaving the stadium at that time. But a true cricket lover is the one who would not leave his / her seat until that DRS decision for the last wicket is shown on the screen. Wood and Atkinson played some blinders and it was some fun time but at the same time a clear reminder to English top order batsmen that they needed to be stable for initial overs before going crazy. England were all out for 170 in 22 overs. Yes in 22 overs. Topley didn't bat. Mumbai cricket fans were deprived of 28 overs of cricketing action but more importantly it was reminder that Wankhede Pitch was playing so true that it would have been great cricket match if English top order would have played some sensible cricket. But there is no meaning for these ifs and buts, neither in Cricket world nor in real life. We felt much better for Wood since this gentleman had a real bad day in the office while bowling. 

Hats off to Wankhede Crowd and Mumbai Police

Finally a word on knowledgable Wankhede Crowd. Every shot, every brilliant piece of fielding / bowling applauded. Every time a batsman reached fifty / hundred everyone stood up. It is different story that English batsmen didn't give them that chance. I had read somewhere that in earlier days even a batsman reaching 25 was also applauded. Getting out of Stadium was very nicely managed by authorities and Policemen / Women. Some of them were having their dinners in one corner of the street before going back to the duty. This country has many areas where we need to improve, but when we see these police personnel serving our country in all possible situations, we definitely feel respect for them! 

It was really great experience even though there was no real fightback from England. But I am all for another match on Wankhede. This time I will choose a better seat but someone, please someone get rid of those DJs