Club Cricket and Royal Challengers Bangalore

The Indian Premier League is in its 5th season. Club cricket was a new concept which was introduced. Each club was based in a city with an iconic player (not necessarily from that city). Owners auctioned for the clubs and then in turn for the players. Great excitement! Cos whoever bought Mumbai, got Sachin Tendulkar.

Anyway my boss Dr. Mallya bought the Bangalore club - The Royal Challengers. So it was but natural that I would support RCB rather than Mumbai Indians. My reasoning - I have nothing in common with the Ambanis or Reliance. And my loyalties had nothing to do with the city....afterall I was born in Bombay and do not really identify with Mumbai. ;)

I have been following the team's progress for the last 5 years. Though I am not a cricket fan, I must say I do enjoy this format of the game. The team's performance has improved over the years and last year we even reached the finals.

Some of the things I love about the current team:

• We have some super players like Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Dan Vettori, Virat Kohli, etc who are not only talented players but very good human beings.
• Dan Vettori has no hesitation in stepping down as Captain to make way for another foreign player in the interest of the team. In the IPL, a team can field only 4 foreign players. We need Murali to bowl as he is the most economical and Dan (who is also a bowler) has stepped down for the last 2 matches.
• AB de Villiers is a true gentleman. He actually shared his man of the match award for one of the matches with a bowler. Cricket is a batsman's game and very rarely does a bowler win the award or get recognition. But AB felt he had to share the stage and thus encourage the young bowler. I thought it was truly commendable.
• AB again showed that when it matters, one can win for the side. At one of the recent matches he came in at the end and saved RCB from an impossible situation. We will be talking about that innings for a very long time. He says he did it for his charity initiative "The Battle of the Bush".
• Dilshan is a quiet man but again a great team player. Yesterday, I told him that I was rooting for him to win the Man of the Match as everytime he posts a big score, someone else gets the award for their spectacular performance. Right off the bat he responded saying that it did not matter and the only thing that mattered was that the team won. He has my respect.
• Virat Kohli is turning out to be a fantastic player and I will not be surprised if he is going to be the star of the Indian team for a very long time.
• Chris Gayle is a big man but very humble at heart. At one of the matches, one of his sixes hit a little girl in the stadium. When he heard about it, he immediately rushed to visit her at the hospital post the match. He does have a large heart.
  
  
  

  

AB de Villiers with Smita and myself

Chris Gayle and myself

 

The IPL - Match 20 - Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings

I am not a cricket fan..........yet I wanted to go for the IPL match. I had been for one 2 years earlier during the first IPL season and the atmosphere was electric. And for that reason alone, I had to go.

I was given a couple's VIP pass and since my cousin Aaron was in town, I invited him to come along with me to the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. He ofcourse, was quite happy to do so. My friend Smita, was quite upset because a few days earlier she had said that she would love to go to watch the MI vs CSK match and that was exactly the match that I was going for!! Anyway I have promised to take her for the next one.

As expected, the atmosphere in the stadium was charged and there was a sea of blue fans with a smattering of yellow. We were right in front of the CSK cheerleaders who caught Aaron's attention throughout. Anyway, CSK batted first and it was a slow game with very few big shots. Yet they reached a decent score of 180 runs. I was sitting next to a young boy who was a CSK fan and his father on the other hand was a MI fan. It was interesting to watch his reaction everytime CSK was on top of the game and whenever they were not.

So the first half was quite quiet because none of the MI fans were cheering for CSK. But come the MI out on the field to bat and what do you know? The stadium was in a constant uproar with a lot of boos when the CSK bowlers bowled well and of course lots of cheering and blowing of trumpets when there were some big shots. There were definitely fireworks and I thought MI would finish the match in 15 overs!!

Throughout the match, there was complimentary popcorn, wafers and soft drinks. During the break, we had to move to a dining area for dinner and drinks. Amazing. If I had to go again, I would, for the food.........na just joking........for the electric experience. Hope I make it for the RCB game though.