Monday, February 28, 2011

Miracalu at Bengaluru

Choice of game

The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is easily one of India’s best cricket stadiums, so the choice of game was a no-brainer. The atmosphere is always electric, the pitch batsman-friendly and spectator comfort right up there with the best. The new look KSCA administration led by Kumble, Srinath and Venky even managed to up the comfort levels with free refreshments, clean toilets and fancy bucket seating! Of course, the other (more practical) reason for picking Bengaluru was the fact that I only managed to get tickets to the Bengaluru WC games through family contacts!

Team supported

India. Obviously. I was rooting for a close finish, and couldn’t have asked for more.

Key performer(s)

There were several key performers in this match for the ages. Sehwag showed us his entire range of cut shots, most notably the upar cut as christened by the Pepsi ad campaign. The Master composed a masterpiece and treated us to his entire repertoire - the cover drive, the backfoot drive, the lofted straight drive , the flick through midwicket, the nudge to fine leg, the slog sweep over midwicket. I counted him playing only one false shot in his entire innings. Bresnan had a typically workmanlike game. He ran in with energy, bowled good lengths and without anyone noticing, sneaked in a terrific 5-wicket haul. But the player of the day undoubtedly was Andrew Strauss. Straussy combined the brutal pulling of Shane Watson with the rasping cuts of Jayasuriya and the crisp sweeping of his coach, Andy Flower in a career-defining innings.

Star watch

I had a complimentary ticket from the KSCA right below the players’ dressing rooms. So big stars weren’t short in supply in our stand. Ganguly looked dapper and hung out with Dravid before the game. Kumble, Srinath and Venky were busy pleasing their bigwig guests with photo ops. Azim Premji arrived but had to soon leave as he couldn’t find a seat! Kannada film superstar Upendra walked in halfway through the Indian innings and the crowd made space for him. Poor Uppi had a tough time catching the action though as he was incessantly bugged by fans for photos and autographs. Srikkanth arrived with ICC head honcho Haroon Lorgat. Right through their 10 min conversation, Chika did all the talking while Haroon looked on in mild amusement. Even Captain Gopinath from Air Deccan was spotted in our stand.

Entertainment

The home of the UB Group’s Royal Challengers felt more like a popular disc than a cricket game, especially during the Indian innings. The IPL’s influence was clearly seen. How else would you explain loud pop music played mid-over in a WC match. At one point, while Sehwag was on the attack, the systems rather ironically blared “I know you want me, You know I want you..” as Anderson was running in!

The rather unpopular stadium MC however failed to get the crowd on his side. He urged the crowd to watch the screen and do the Stumpy (the WC mascot) dance, but was met with a stony silence. He coaxed us to scream Yahooooo in unison but all he got was a series of booooos! The crowd was happier sticking with the good ol’ South Indian cheer – Jinkalakala Waikalakala, Hoo haa, Hoo haa! Also, what were Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy thinking? Their WC theme song is so fail, it’s not funny.

Blame your equipment moment of the day

Towards the end of his innings, Gambhir went for a full blooded cover drive off Anderson but missed the ball by a mile. What did he do next. Looked unhappily at his bat and asked for a bat change! Nice try, Gauti.

The bouncer barrage

With a middle order comprising of Yuvraj, Yusuf and potentially Raina, India can expect to see many more overs this WC like the innings’ 41st when Bresnan bowled 6 bouncers!

Zak wakes up

It is incredible how many one day games swing in favour of the bowling team during the batting powerplay. This time, it was Zak who suddenly woke up from deep slumber and bowled a terrific spell. These days, he somehow manages to turn it on at just the right moments, in spite of his apparent lack of fitness. He ambles around the ground and looks like a bowling version of that great energy preserver, Ranatunga. My cousin has a theory that Zak is referred to as the attack leader and not strike bowler because well, he doesn’t really look like a strike bowler!

Astonishing statistic of the match

There was only one 3 scored by either team in a total of six hundred and seventy six runs. Crazy. The result of a small Indian ground and a lightning fast outfield.

The twin towers

Chris Tremlett (who was carrying drinks for the visitors) has no place on a cricket field. 6 ft 8 in and rather grave looking, he looked like he belonged more in a rugby scrum. India’s gentle giant, Munaf Patel though was as endearing as ever. While a few lucky kids walked hand in hand with the players on to the field for the national anthems, Munna picked up his escort by the hip and had him dangling by his shoulder. And later in the day, he won a few fans in the crowd through his return catch cum save my face from disfigurement moment.

Once in a lifetime moment of the day

The day had plenty of those once in a lifetime moments. Sachin’s near flawless 100. Strauss’s splendid knock. A tie in a WC match. But for me, the moment that topped all of these was the crowd’s reaction when Bell was called back by Billy Bowden on the UDRS review. How often does one get to see 35,000 grown up men and women shouting “Cheating! Cheating! Cheating!” for one whole minute!

The uninsightful rating system

All through the game, Castrol Cricket had some ridiculous ratings flashed on the giant screen. They kept informing us about the top performers to look out for through a rating index. The funny thing was it was calculated on the basis of performance till that point in the game. Also, they kept informing us about the relative positions of the teams in the game, and these swung like a pendulum! That’s what happens when lukkha engineers over-analyse a sport.

Spectator cheer of the day

The rowdy Indian crowds never fail to disappoint when it comes to interesting cheers (or anti-cheers, as we call it in these parts). A particularly enterprising lot in our stand took to poor old Luke Wright. They kept shouting out ‘Wright Wright’ to him, and when he looked back to acknowledge their cheers, he was greeted with ‘Left Left’!

Marks out of 10

The perfect 10. As my Kannadiga neighbour at the ground described it, it was a miracalu at Bengaluru.