Comedy of Errors

When I was in Std. tenth, I had a lesson in Marathi called "Me stadium var match pahato" (roughly translated it means I watch a match at the stadium) Basically it was about his trials and tribulations when he went to watch a cricket match at the stadium. I had vowed then - that I will NEVER watch a cricket match at the stadium - it wasnt worth the effort (clearly evident in the pain the author had to bear). Later on in engineering - I had a cricket crazy group but still we would go to this friend's place and watch a match together - wear blue tees, carry a blue flag, paint our faced in the tricolor etc... Every six/four was a celebration and every wicket we expressed frustration. But it was loads of fun - only because we were at this friends place - eating his mom's home-made delicious cakes and other junk food... In a nut shell, IT WAS COMFORTABLE!

Thus, my interest in cricket was ALWAYS driven by my friends - who were crazy about it... And this was the exact same reason I got emotionally blackmailed into watching the IPL - Mumbai Indians versus Knight Riders match at Wankhede - and the worst part of it all I PAID FOR BEING TORTURED :(

So, Girish asked me to come over and I agreed (read - emotional blackmail for not calling at 12 to wish him on his budday) to leave early and join him for this match. Gaurang and a couple of his frends were joining us... Then I had to refuse my office people who were giving me a 3000 bucks ticket for free (read Girish - so much for the love i have for u)...
I left office and missed a colleague who was going to go to the same place and left at the same time in his car (i used public transport to get there) - Strike 1 I say...

I went to Churchgate and the comedy of errors began... I was supposed to get down at Marine Lines but got a fast so got down at Churchgate (CG)... Gaurang gave me directions and asked me to walk towards Marine Lines (ML)... Now, I figured if I have to anyway walk to ML station - why not take a train to ML. Took and I came there, only to realise both of them came to Churchgate to meet me :( At ML, I waited for a train and got down at CG and again missed Girish (who was on the west side and I was on the east)... Sadly due to the huge numbers present there - mobile networks were jammed which further added to confusion... Finally I met both of them only at 7:15 (40 minutes late from what I had expected) - Strike 2..

Then we went to the Tendulkar North stand for which we had tickets for and as expected we dint get seats. We were standing for an entire match in an extremly crowded stadium and were suffocated by Mumbai heat... Strike 3

Finally the Godforsaken match started... I wondered why did I pay for this... I was standing all the time (thanks to the management which gives out 1000 tickets in a stadium which can seat 500) and we couldnt even see the players clearly... The people around me were like arre wah - some XYZ is standing at deep mid off (excuse me!) and Sachin is in the first slip etc... I also wondered how exactly did these guys see the ball? As for me, I could see the ball in bowlers hand - then him throwing it - then it was a blur till it either went for a 4 or into the fielders hands...

So, why was I there?? I couldnt see the ball, I couldnt differentiate between players (of course 2 teams had different jerseys so inter team differentiation was easy :)..) and I am not crazy about cricket... All the time I glared at Girish for making me do this... To add to my woes - the audience wanted to do a stupid Mexican wave thing - so the idiots sitting in front of me periodically got up to throw their hands in the air to continue the wave... I AM an enthu pot - so the first time when it happened - I was quite kicked and did my bit for the wave but these people continued it for what 5 rounds - dont you think thats too much? I wonder if they saw the entire over that happened during that time (psst - arent people supposed to watch the match when they are in the stadium).

So, this is for the audience bit... The match itself was quite insipid. Now, I am no ardent fan of cricket but little that I know a match esp. a 20-20 match is exciting when there are a lot of sixes, a lot of runs and a nail biting finish (something like 1 over 15 runs etc.). There were new records created here and not the most nice ones... We had:

• The Lowest score in IPL (67 all out)
• The Slowest 50 in IPL
• The fastest ever win in IPL (in 5.3 overs - which was good because I had to stand for less time)
• The highest number of catches - The idol worship that Sachin enjoys was something that dawned upon me when I saw this match. Those catches were the easiest catches anyone can take but Sachin was praised immensely for this - which is strange coz they werent any challenges (which merits this praise btw). This done - when he came on the field to bat - the crowd went mad... The gave a standing ovation to him EVEN if he hadnt hit a single ball. (I do not doubt the fact that he WAS a great player but now with his form, I think he needs to prove himself (like all players have to and like Ganguly still needs to) before he gets so much credit for nothing).. Now comes the icing on the cake - this "GREAT" batsman got out on a DUCK... Brilliant bowling by Shoib Akhtar... So, first when Shoib does come to field at the boundary - he gets brickbats... some words uttered cant be even mention on this forum... Second, everyone goes Sachin dint play now coz he doesnt need to... He is giving a chance to others to win the match coz its such an easy target.. WHAT the f#$^$%@? How can ANYONE be so blindly worshipped? Jayasurya who is probably older than Sachin performed brilliantly, Pollock who is of the same era as him bowled magnificiently and yet people choose to talk about those idotic catches that this "AWESOME player who got out on a DUCK" took.. Disgusting that a team is symbolised by this one person - its a sad state of affairs!!
• Highest number of sixes by a batsman (thanks to the 2 measly sixes that Jayasurya hit which gave him this title)

So, thats about it... At the end of the match, I was tired, sweaty, disgusted and extremely bored.. The only entertainment of the day was being with these 2 idiots - Girish and Gaurang :) and those 30 minutes we spent talking at Marine Drive... Ya of course - the cheer leaders from Calcutta could be also included as the high points of the evening (btw - Mumbai cheerleaders sucked and so does the song mumbai has as its IPL anthem). Thus ended my day - had to wait for 20 minutes at Churchgate to get a train and I finally reached home completely exhausted at 12:30...

Came home and I decided that NEVER will I go to watch a cricket match at the stadium again!!!