Wankhede...
The match between India and England was evenly poised at the end of the fourth day.. with India batting at 18/1 and needing 313 to win, I would have said there was a fair chance to get that...
And moreover, the match being in Mumbai, it was all the more reason to feel excited!
We all saw it as the final opportunity to watch a cricket match from such close quarters with friends in the near future... so, on Tuesday night, we were all excited and ready to rock the Wankhede.. so many ppl were willing to come that we felt it would be a wonderful outing, one of those precious days that will be forever engraved in memory.. we were all imagining India pulling off a stunning victory...
It was decided to leave early in the day since we also had to buy tickets.. but not even half of the ppl who had shown the willingness to come the previous night were enthu abt giving up their sleep and coming to watch the match.. not true cricket fans i thought!
finally me, patkar and modi were the only three who were awake and wanting to go.. so we left insti at around 6:30am and made our way down south to Wankhede.. the huge queue outside the ticket counter so early in the morning for a test match on a weekday was really amazing... it is beyond doubt that cricket is the one force that pulls the vast majority of the Indian populace.
It was a long wait in the queue for us followed by growing unrest among the waiting crowd as the match drew closer and the queue was moving at snail's pace... finally there was a huge commotion and we were pushed out of the queue as the security started lathi-charge on the waiting crowd.. i was pissed off with such poor arragements and think the MCA should make sincere efforts to improve this situation because I am just wondering what the situation would be like for an ODI at Wankhede... It would make sense to bring in the e-seva system for ticket distribution, which is currently practiced in hyderabad..
Thankfully, there was a separate line for ladies at the stadium and we were able to convince a couple of girls to get us tickets but that was not before I suffered a blow from the lathi on my knee.. though it was mild, it still pained...
finally when we got the chance to get into the stadium at 11am, the score read 46/3 and the best two batsmen of the Indian team, Dravid and Sachin were out there in the middle.. inspite of the early losses, the crowd was very optimistic of the home team making a comeback.. it was my first experience to watch a cricket match in the stadium and it was fantastic.. the chorus of SAACHINN..SAACHINN.. in the crowd was simply enthralling.... some sections of the crowd were hurling abuses at the English cricketers and it should be really intimidating to the players...
the session till lunch was very entertaining and Rahul and Sachin stayed on to take India to 75/3.. the hopes of the crowd to witness an exciting finish were soaring... but post-lunch began the downslide.. rahul departed in the first over after lunch and sachin in the very next.. it was stunning.. suddenly all hopes came shattering down in a heap....
and that was not the end of the downfall.. sehwag and dhoni also had a very brief presence and the Indian team was looking down the barrel much too early than most of us had expected... soon the match was all over and India had collapsed to 100 all out and lost miserably in the very first match that I watched at the Wankhede....
it was really disappointing and frustrating since we stood in the queue longer than we were in the stadium... the crowd was calling out "Hamara paisa wapas do!" and "We want Dada!" which made me realise the volatility of the crowd sentiment in India.. but then, being among the one who had fought so hard to get that coveted place in the North Stand, I did share their feelings to some extent... one bad match and all the good work in the last few months is washed clean from memory...
after the match, i think that the Indian team needs to sit back and analyse the shortcoming and come back hard at the Englishmen in the ODIs. Although India lost the match, going to the Wankhede was not a total waste because I could see some of my favorite players from close quarters and watching the boundaries from the willows of sachin and yuvraj were some consolation for my money and time...
