Cricket! The IPL Game

I may have mentioned before that I was invited to a cricket match by Rishi, a friend whom I had previously taken to a baseball game (The NH Fisher Cats) in the US. He said that it was "something new", a short cricket game. (For those of you in the know, it was a Twenty20 game or T20). Turns out that the game format is apparently not new, but that the league is new. It is called the IPL or India Premier League, and this was the first game played by the league. The teams have home cities, but there is a considerable percentage of foreign players. I think all the captains are all Indians. The match was to be played at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the outside of which I am very familiar with since it is close to our apartment and was even closwer to the apartment in '06. Rishi was not sure if he could get tickets. Only last weekend they were released for sale, and Rishi scored! The tickets were gone by Monday.
I may talk the talk about pushing my boundaries and comfort zone etc, but I have to say I was pretty nervous about this. Not for any specific reason except general aversion to crowds combined with the complete unknown, and the rather run-down state of the outside of the statium. Making up for it were my knowledge that the outside is seldom a good indicator of things in India and my complete comfort with and trust in Rishi.
It was never clear to me exactly what time the match started. I variously heard 8, 6:30 etc. I found out later what it all meant. Rishi thought we should leave work at 3:30 so we did (more or less) with him coming along in our car with Tom and me and Manju the driver. We went to the apartment first to drop off a lot of my stuff; essentially nothing is allowed in (food, water, bags, etc), and in addition I left my wallet, putting some money in a zipper pocket in my pants. Note to future self: This is a GREAT idea. I felt pretty comfortable pushing through crowds not worrying about possible pickpockets etc. Then Rishi decided that since two of his friends had gone early and saved seats for us (tickets are for sections, not reserved seats) that we should wait for a while in the appt till it was a bit cooler. Rishi was incredibly sweet and solicitous. I was happy to accept.
When we finally got there the crowds were incredible. Manju said the stadium holds 25000 and I can believe it. The sidewalks and streets were all full. Manju could not get very close so we had to walk half-way around the stadium through the crowd. At one point we ended up in the road with cars whizzing around us. I'm mostly used to this (standard road-crossing technique) but Rishi was again solicitous and took my hand leading me through the maze. We finally got on line and squeezed through this very narrow gate and rather useless metal detector (no one was paying much attention) but then we got a fairly serious pat-down and we were free---out in the open space around the stadium per-se. Still kind of run down, but also fairly free of people, so it was a relief. We went into the stadium and came out and it was a lot like E's and my first experience at Fenway Park...Suddenly it was in color!
But the seating was quite amazing: The permanent infrastructure consists of big concrete rings (like any stadium) but there are not permanent seats. Instead, there were plastic lawn chairs set up (those kind that don't fold; they just stack). They were reasonably comfortable, but could and were moved around. After things started, people moved down from the less good seats to fill up the "aisles". Not too comfortable mentally, but I was having such a good time that I just ignored it. Nothing that you can do about it!
But then the show stated. And I mean SHOW. At 6:30 sharp they had a pre-match league opening extravaganza. I've NEVER seen anything like this in my life. It started out with a rock band doing Indian hits; people singing, swaying etc. It was pretty incredible. I should mention that they had been running a mosquito fogger on the field, and the fog thus created was perfect to show up a laser show. Then game the Washington Redskin cheerleaders. I actually did not think they were that good. They were poorly synchronized, and on top of everything did not really match the size of the stadium. But seemingly as part of that show, there came people on stilts in butterly and other costumes and people in big plastic bubbles. The bubbles had pseudo-snow or something light in them so that as the people walked and rotated the bubbles the snowflakes were carried partway up the side and thus caused a continuous swirl of snow around the performer. THe effect was really stunning. Then came aerial acrobats on ribbons. All this happening to loud but well done music. Perhaps this is standard stuff for bit rock concert shows, but I was just amazed at the beauty and pagentry and excitement.
Finally some cricket-related things started. As part of the opening of the league they read some sort of code of conduct. I think it was from the ICC (International Cricket Cxxxx), but I'm not sure. In any case the captains of all the teams ceremonial signed a statement that they would abide. I actually thought that was very moving. The keyword was respect: Respect you teamates, respect the opponents, respect the spectators, respect the officials, and above all respect the game. Very goose-bumpy.
I should say that I found out today that Tom's wife had actually HEARD about this event. I guess the cheerleaders made a spash in the US if nothing else. But in any case, it seems that in the cricket world this was a Big Deal. I'm amazed and thankful that Rishi was able to get us in!
The match itself started at 8 (see, there's the time explanation). I have to admit to never having really 'gotten' cricket, but when you are able to see the whole thing rather than the restricted view that TV gives you, the whole thing becomes much clearer. At least the very basic structure of the game. Just the fact that you can see both batsmen (yes, there are two 'batters' at the same time. Only one bats, but both can run and both can be put out) makes the experience much different than on TV. We saw several different types of play through the course of the game: Wides, 4's , 6's, various kinds of wickets, etc. so it was a good tutorial for me. The match was an utter blowout. Kolkatta won something like 223 to 60-something. For those in the know, the K team lost the toss and batted first, and scored 223 for 3. The Bangalore team, sadly scored 60-something for 10 in something like 15 overs. (An over is 6 balls pitched. The teams reverse batting and fielding after either 20 overs or 10 wickets [outs] whichever comes first. The Kolkatta team ended its innings on overs. The Bangalore team ended its on wickets. In other words, it was a blowout).
I came home really on a high from the excitement! I think we should have walked or taken a rickshaw, but Rishi called Manju. It was hard for him slogging through the traffic but we found each other. After taking me home, he took Rishi home. It was a good thing that I was so excited. I still had some packing to do so even though it was 11:30 or so, I was still awake!
Next time: A meeting with His Royal Highness, The Maharaja of Jaipur