There have been fixes and quick fixes, doomsayers and naysayers and the IPL has even had its integrity compromised on occasion. But through it all, the T20 spectacular has barely lost its relevance as it prepares for a grand 10th edition. For, it’s remained a box office hit played in front of packed houses and raucous fans. The Indian Express looks at the venues that have soaked in the IPL fever over the years and the unique flavour that fans in different corners of the country have brought to the party.
MUMBAI: For most “fans” that turn out at the Wankhede Stadium during IPL, it’s as much about being seen as it is about getting to see the cricket. Mumbai spawned ‘the new fan’ like no other city. Most of the actual cricket faithful who follow maidaan cricket stay away from the Wankhede – mostly because they can’t afford the tickets. Meanwhile, it’s become a status symbol for the South Mumbai elite to have at least one Facebook or Instagram post about how “they were there” for IPL every season.
So the North Stand-which is where you’ll find Mumbai’s inscrutable cricket pundits during domestic matches, analysing whether the bat’s coming down in a straight line-makes way for the Garware and Divecha Pavilion in terms of most sought-after seating, as it places the flag-waving fanatics strategically close to the Bollywood brigade, that’s omnipresent during the IPL.
It’s become a norm of sorts when Mumbai play at home, the plethora of Bollywood royalty in attendance, even if Bollywood’s emperor owns another team and was barred from entering the stadium for a few years. You’ll find everyone from Anu Malik, who wears the same jersey for every match during a season, to Arbaaz Khan and Hrithik Roshan on a regular basis.
While Wankhede obviously thinks it right to indulge in “Sachin, Sachin” regardless of the match situation, nobody has quite captured their imagination over the years as Lasith Malinga, that flame-haired slinger. “Maa-lingg-aa” has to be right up there among the most popular chants in the IPL’s history. And of course, it still retains its otherwise rowdy reputation, dishing out the famous Wankhede angst at opposition players, even Virat Kohli.
BANGALORE: IT’S POSSIBLE that the old-school Bangalore cricket fan would have thought it blasphemous to cheer for Virat Kohli since Karnataka was all about genteel cricketers. Like Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, who formed the core of the RCB setup during the initial years of the IPL, when they were even referred to as “daddy’s army”.
Kohli if anything was that erstwhile RCB’s teenaged enfant terrible. Not many would have expected then that one day the name Virat would resonate around the Chinnaswamy Stadium relentlessly with a majority of those present donning No.18 jerseys. And Bangalore would become the most hip teams of the tournament. But Kohli represents the changing face of the city – brash, in-your-face and wearing its sentiments on the sleeve. Even their theme song, though littered with some obligatory Kannada, caters to the craft beer swigging generation with references to “bros, buddies and dudes”.
They orchestrated the “A Bee Dee” chant that subsequently become a national obssession. But the RCB fans spoilt considering they have the luxury of calling some of the highest-rated luminiaries their own. With Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers, it’s almost like they have the Beatles, Elvis and Dylan all performing weekly in their backyard. But you can never doubt the RCB fan’s loyalty. Nowhere else do fans have to deal with rained out matches annually, but never will you see an IPL game being washed out at Chinnaswamy in front of empty stands.
CHENNAI: Even the most ardent of CSKians will struggle to recollect, even vaguely, the face of Thilan Thushara, the Sri Lankan all-rounder. But one April night, in 2010, the shriek of his name from the stands could be heard beyond the Marina and Mount Road. It was the April night, he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar: perhaps the first time in an Indian stadium that ‘that’ was celebrated than mourned.
It existed as an antithesis to the knowledgeable Chennai crowd myth—those discerning, orthodox ilk, who would appreciate the straight drive and scoff at a slog sweep, or those sporting cliques who gave Pakistan a standing ovation when they won a Test here in 1999. But the CSKians were fiercely loyal and inextricably bonded with the roster, so much so that even the galacticos of Indian cricket had to grow accustomed to the unfamiliarity of being cheered when they got out. Hence could be argued that they were first group of fans to draw a clear country-club demarcation. Or the first to forge a franchise-fandom identity.
Despite the perceived gimmickiness of the entire concept and format, they took IPL seriously—with the same devotion as they consume Tests or ODIs. They dutifully turned out to cheer for their men in yellow, in yellow jerseys (at the turnstiles they were handed out yellow jerseys too), in yellow wigs, their faces smeared in yellow, their lips frenetically whistling away, adding to the mugginess of the notorious Chennai summers. They revelled in the peppy chartbusters belted out by the DJ, gave their own twist and twang to local songs and swayed to Sivamani’s frantic drum solos, but beyond all such theatrics, their mind seemed hooked on the game, and their heart beating for CSK. Whether they won or lost, they celebrated their cricket and cricketers with the same, unflinching alacrity. Not even Tendulkar could shake their loyalty.
KOLKATA: Eden Gardens prefers to walk on the wild side during the IPLs. Youth is the flavour in the stands. Hindi becomes the prevalent language in some enclosures. Shah Rukh Khan’s arrival for Kolkata Knight Riders’ matches cause a ripple effect of mass hysteria; so much so that at times cricket becomes a tad incidental. The whole atmosphere at Eden for the IPL is always very different from international cricket.
Heavy industries promote ancillaries – so Shah Rukh’s Bollywood colleagues also turn up. A vast chunk of the Bengali film industry arrives in tow, heightening the glitz quotient. People talk about cricketers, past and present, during a Test match at Eden. IPL crowds sometime mix cricket with the odd Shah Rukh Khan movies. Big hits are seldom missed. Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) doesn’t quite remain on the periphery during IPLs. The home franchise takes control of the venue for one-and-a-half months as per the IPL franchise agreement, but attempts (if any) to make designer pitches at Eden by and large have proven to be futile.
The late Prabir Mukherjee, the former Eden curator, had always kept any pitch-related requests at arm’s length. His successor Sujan Mukherjee, too, has a mind of his own. To be fair though, the CAB and the KKR have a good working relationship and it’s a reason why the state association still retains some control over the distribution of complimentary passes.
DELHI: Prolonged stretches of poor form and questionable shopping habits at the auction have meant that Delhi Daredevils are viewed as perennial underdogs. It’s tough to get behind a team when “haarna hi hai” is the prevalent emotion among fans on the eve of the season. Add to that a distinct lack of home-grown icons – out of the city’s three big stars, Virender Sehwag has hung up his boots, while Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have long packed up and shipped off to the greener pastures of Bangalore and Kolkata – and the billboards have to make do with IPL-exclusive Zaheer Khan.
The myth, however, that Delhi fans are indifferent needs to be busted. People here are always ready to have a good time, as long as it’s free. Everyone and their dog is looking for complimentary passes, never mind which teams are playing and who is winning.
MOHALI: Till recently, Mohali was a Test venue with the least population in India, which was often reflected during matches held here. The venue though has a history of filling up like the Sukhna lake during monsoons during the shortest format. During World T20 last year, even the non-India matches at this modest 26,000-capacity ground were nearly sold out. Strangely, however, the IPL that followed saw the numbers decline considerably, with the stadium barely 60 per cent full.
These vagaries of the crowd behavior are actually consistent with the short-attention span when it comes to attractions of people in these parts. Which is perhaps why the old Sector 17 supermarket is ditched in the favor of a glitzy mall in the industrial area, which itself has now fallen out of favour after a bigger, jazzier shopping arcade has come up on the outskirts. The Kings XI Punjab, too, share the blame. Yes, Preity Zinta does throw KXIP jerseys in the stands during matches, but little else has been done to build and nurture a fan base. A local emotional connection was cut after they let go of Yuvraj Singh in 2011.
KXIP also have more home venues in the IPL than any other team: Dharamshala, Cuttack, Pune and, but for the drought last year, Nagpur. At times it seems they are a non-resident team. In fact, this season Punjab do not play at their traditional home for the first three weeks. Their first three ‘home’ games are at the Holkar stadium, Indore. At 491 kilometers, it will be easier for a Pune fan to land in Indore and support Steve Smith & Co than someone from Mohali to fly 900 kilometers to root for Glenn Maxwell and Co. The distance between KXIP and its fans is both physical and emotional.
RAJKOT: What’s that time of the year when locals in Rajkot arrange themselves in a giant circle below floodlit towers with loudspeakers blaring foot-thumping music? Since last year, when Gujarat Lions made this cricketing outpost its home, Rajkot, within months of staying up late to do the dandia, comes together again to dance in the aisles, celebrating IPL’s temporary far-west detour.
The city that has for years endured international cricket seated on rented rickety chairs squeezed together in temporary stands under skinny shadi shamiyanas at that old Municipality-owned stadium, never had it so good. Those long-suffering, cricket-deprived fans can’t stop smiling.
Rajkot just can’t get over the fact that they aren’t just on the IPL map but it has a franchise of its own ahead of the bigger Gujarat city. “In your face Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat,” Rajkot seems to be saying on match days while hanging gleefully onto those “shared autos” for the roughly 15 km ride to the stadium. Once inside, the selfie-clicking celebrity-spotting multitude, pouring out of those sparkling bucket seats, betray the unguarded excitement of the newbie. The Lions fans might be unabashedly loyal to the team that has Ravindra Jadeja but at SCA, a non-Gujarati or a non-Lions too can bring the roof down with long hits. Actually, Rajkot is pragmatic in their investment in T20 games. IPL losses are shaken off nonchalantly. At the Lions Den, even when the home team needs 12 runs from the last ball, playing on loop is the the team song “Game Mari Chhe”.
PUNE: It’s a city that’ll happily embrace the most unpopular ones around. So expect Steven Smith to be warmly welcomed by the highly contrarian and incorrigibly rude Punekars so soon after the nasty India-Australia Test series. The franchise got into Puneri character with its highly irreverent and smart-ass decision to sidestep MS Dhoni and appoint younger Steven Smith as captain. Australia’s century machine promptly donned the Puneri pagdi to mouth a giggling, “Come on, Punekars. Aaplya. Teamla. Support Kara.” If he can cut down on that fidgetiness and stop apologising for everytime he uses swear words like a front bencher of Nu Ma Vi, he might even blend into Sadashiv Peth in this get-up.
The Pune teams—even in their previous avatars—though have been notorious for intrigues that could be straight out of Shaniwar Wada. The feisty outliers Jesse Ryder and Marlon Samuels, batting together once, had a sulk mid-pitch enroute winning a game, and Punekars wildly cheered all the bad blood. Marquee players are alien to Pune—fans cut them all to size with crowd comments in that intimate little Gahunje stadium. Pune’s never settled into a fixed owner, stadium, captain or storyline.
These fans with their tough love will pick on you no matter how big a cricketer’s reputation. Coming to the highway stadium from Pune they pay a double toll for a U-turn to park off cars which they seldom can locate later in the night. But nothing will deter the Punekar from going through all of this to watch their team implode. Loyalty is temporary, drama is eternal. While other IPL centres can be gawked at for their luxe Mercs and BMWs, at Pune – cricketers go cuddling the Labradors, German Shepherds and Rottweilers who are part of the security battalion. No pressure on Dhoni to get along well with fellow humans off the field. There’s plenty of friends at the kennel.
News Link : Click Here
EmoticonEmoticon