Let me start this post by wishing all the Dear MSians & their beautiful families a Very Happy Diwali. The Diwali has already begun in a great way this year specially with Team India completing a whitewash by defeating Team England 5-0 in the just concluded ODI series.
Today I would like to share my first hand experience of watching the 4th ODI match played LIVE between India v/s England at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 23rd Oct.
I went to watch this match along with my brother. Since we had got a seat at Sachin Tendulkar Stand - Block R Level 1 & our entry was from Gate 4 University Sports Pavilion, we decided to get down at Marine lines and reached the stadium at 2:15 pm.
It was a special day because it was the first time that I got a chance to watch an ODI match in the newly revamped Wankhede Stadium. The match was scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm IST. There was a huge queue outside the stadium, The security was so tight that we were frisked more than 3 times at different points. Till the time we settled to our seats, England innings had already begun and 6 overs were already bowled.
The stands were newly built, the interior was completely redone. The seats though were disappointing as I could see a small layer of dust particles on it from my naked eyes. The atmosphere was lively and it became more livelier as more and more crowd started filling in. Many people came in bright coloured outfits – Some came with Huge Banners , Some wore Indian Cricket Team’s outfit, Some came with their face painted with Indian Tricolors etc , but the one who stood out were a Group of Sardarji’s who came from Punjab in a traditional Punjabi outfits to support the Indian Team. Simply loved their passion for the Game.
The crowds were enchanting the names & were cheering all the players specially those players who were standing close to our stands like Virat Kohli, Manoj Tewari, Parthiv Patel, Alistair Cook etc. However most of the Girls from our stand were continuously chanting “I love you, VIRAT” when Virat Kohli was standing very close to our stand. The players too were sporting enough to acknowledge their admirers by waving to the crowd.
Indians did very well by bowling out England for a very low score of 220.Varun Aaron had a dream debut to his ODI. The real fun began when Indian innings started. Our stand was almost filled as most of the crowds came to watch the Indian batting. Indians got off to a terrible start losing three wickets for 46 runs and there was a complete silence in the stadium. But then as Suresh Raina & Virat Kohli started resurrecting the Indian innings the crowd became lively and passionately started chanting the slogans, ”Ek do, Ek do – England ko Phek do.” and “Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega!”. It was great to witness the entire stadium doing the Mexican Waves and Clapping continuously in unison.We too didn’t resist and joined the bandwagon.
However things went a bit out of control when Steven Finn bowled Suresh Raina and unnecessarily indulged in sledging and started abusing him. The crowd were very angry seeing this and started booing the England Players and terming them as losers. The debutant Stuart Meaker had to bear most of the brunt as he was fielding close to our stand and he was greeted with the boos. I however didn’t indulge in this Booing and abusing activity and preferred to be a silent spectator.
However the Booing was short lived as M.S.Dhoni came to bat,the crowd again went back to their cheerful mood.As we reached near the target every run was applauded and cheered and every four was given a Standing Ovation. People however started demanding for a SIX and MS Dhoni readily obliged by hiting a SIX off a Free Hit ball. And so finally Team India won the match and the curtains to the spectacular day came to an end.
Thus came to an end an Electrifying day filled with Exciting moments & loads of fun. But nothing mattered more than India winning the match :-) I end with a parting thought that If you ever get a chance to watch a match at a Cricket Stadium, don’t think too much. Just GO!! It’s an experience of a life time, you might not get a clearer view when compared to a TV, you might not hear the Commentary but You can see the same excitement in the young & the old, the rich & the poor, people from all religions & different gender and see them unite together & show their support ‘LIVE’.
