Watching an IPL match live in a stadium

I have been a cricket fan right from my childhood days. In India as you know cricket is religion and Sachin is God. But till date I had never watched a cricket match live in a stadium. Initially I used to think why watch the match sitting under the hot sun and with no comfortable seats when you can watch it sitting on ur comfy sofa right in your living room.


But things have changed now. With the IPL the cricket fever has hit a new high. Wherever you go in trains, buses,office canteens there is so much discussion going on about IPL. I decided that this time I am going to watch the Mumbai Indians match live in a stadium. I alongwith my friends booked tickets for the Mumbai Indians versus RCB match at Brabourne on 20th March. I was all excited as it was the first time I was going to watch a cricket match live.


So finally the D-day arrived and we reached the venue about 30 minutes prior to the start of the match. There was lot of buzz in the ground. The toss had just happened and Mumbai Indians were going to bat first.
As the openers started to walk to the crease the whole stadium started chanting 'Sachin Sachin' and 'Surya Surya'. I was astonished to see how close we were to the action. We were in the East stand and we could see the bowler running into the bowl and the batsman so clearly. Main sochne laga saala TV pe toh ground kitna bada lagta hai and here from the stands I was feeling the square boundaries so small  :)


I had also got my binoculars to watch the game. Watching Sachin bat I felt so happy...It is altogether a different experience of watching a match live in a stadium. So much of noise,music and fun happening all around. We were all clapping each and every run that MI scored. There was a small contingent of RCB supporters to the left of us. Whenever they cheered RCB we all would start booing. Mumbai Indians after a good start lost their way in one over where 3 wickets fell. There was a hush when Sachin's wicket fell. But our hopes were still up as Pollard had come in to bat and he is our trump card.


However just as Pollard was getting into the groove he got out. Due to some lusty late-order hitting from Zaheer Mumbai Indians managed to get 151. We thought if we could bowl well we could still win the match. As the innings break descended, I started feeling thirsty but one of my friends told me that once you go out it will be very difficult to come back. One thing I almost forgot the RCB cheerleaders were just dancing below us. Honestly although they were good looking I somehow feeled that there is lack of energy in their dance. It was looking as they are just going through their motions.


After the innings break it was time for RCB to bat and Malinga and Zak bowled really tight overs. But then Manish Pandey and Kallis broke free. Kallis is one player who's wicket we desparately wanted. Seeing the way he was batting I started coming up with weird suggestions. Sample some of these 'Lets kidnap his girlfriend' or 'Bravo bowl him a beamer and knock his head off' hehehehe.....


After a long opening partnership Bhajji finally got the wicket of Manish Pandey but Kallis was still batting really well. We could hear the strokes from Kallis blade so clearly. He was looking in gr8 nick and he carried his bat through the innings to win it for RCB. After the victory the RCB contingent started waving flags and started shouting slogans looking at us the MI supporters. I must admit RCB played really well and were deserverd winners.


The overall experience of watching a match live in a stadium was simply exhilirating. The only regret was watching MI lose. But koi baat tournament poora abhi baaki hai mere dost.:)
The joy of watching Sachin, Jayasuriya, Kallis,Pollard live is something I will never forget. The fielders standing at the boundary particularly Bhajji and Bravo acknowledged the crowd which felt really good.
I look forward to watch more matches in the future.