At last, I saw a match live in stadium!
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| Garware Pavilion |
I was super excited to see a live match. Everyone from our group expected a close contest between two heavyweights of IPL, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. We went in the stadium 2 hours, before the match starts.. And what a sight it was... Amazing view of the pitches, ground, stadium! The people were coming in slowly. We were in shed, so didn't have to cope with the heat in Mumbai much.
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| Poster outside the stadium |
After 45 minutes or so, we saw glimpses of MI players, as they walked in for warm up! We were shouting when each player and support staff member came! Jonty Rhodes, Pollard, Malinga and also Sachin got the biggest cheer when they walked in! After 15 minutes or so, CSK players also came in. First came the coach, Flemming, then some of young Indian players. Michael Hussey also got a huge cheer, when he came out to practice. Raina, Badrinath, Vijay practiced on the sideline. M.S.Dhoni did also get a big cheer, and obviously biggest from me, when he walked in, with his walking style!!!
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| Me---at Wankhede |
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| First look at the beautiful stadium |
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| CSK's Vijay and coach Fleming and Samir Kochar |
He straight away went to the practice pitches, where he bowled 4-5 balls along with, Nannes, Mohit Sharma, Rajppot, Laughlin and Morris. All the players did some warm-up. Ravi Shastri was ready for the toss. Both the captains wore their jersey's and came pitchside for the toss. Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first.We were holding the Posters, that we had created. Many people sitting ahead us were reading them, and were appreciating us. People were coming in to occupy their seats. And the stadium was getting filled up! Big roar came when the team was announced. With 15mins to go for the match, players walked out, to get freshen up! But one man was still practicing and hitting the one stump, which he was given to bowl at- Dirk Nannes! He wasn't in the playing-XI for CSK but he was hitting the one stump consistently with a good speed. That was real sportsmanship from him, even if you are not in team, you should give your best! In the heat, it was a whole hearted effort that he put in!
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| MI players practicing |
With 5 mins to go for the match, the stadium was full! Sachin and Smith walked in. And what a view it was... We were able to see, where the ball was pitching, was it swinging or spinning or going straight. Before this many people told me that, we can't see anything and all that... But even if we were on the third level, it was a treat to watch. Crowd was cheering for every ball. Both of them started very slowly. CSK's new ball bowlers were right on money with the new ball. Jadeja removed Sachin while Smith was caught and bowled by Bravo. And Bravo as usual did show his new dance on the field. Everyone enjoyed it a lot! MI lost wickets on regular basis. 99/5 in 17 overs at one stage, MI finished on 139/5, thanks to the final flourish by Bhajji and Rohit Sharma.
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| One of the moment when SIR Jadeja was bowling |
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| Hussey and Vijay coming to open the batting |
At that point of time, I thought that CSK will easily chase that down, with the batting line-up they had. But it wasn't to be.... They were very complacent in their approach. Michael Hussey was dropped 3 times, by Pollard on 3 consecutive deliveries by Johnson in the first over. But in 3rd over, Johnson came back well, dismissing Vijay, Raina and Badrinath in one over. Suyal dismissed Bravo. While sending Ashwin ahead of Dhoni didn't work. After 9 overs, CSK was struggling, 40/5 with Hussey and Dhoni in the middle. Ojha dismissed both of them cheaply, that almost meant that MI will win the match easily. With 55/9 in 13 overs, it looked as if CSK will be bowled out on the lowest score in IPL history. But Johnson conceded 20 runs in that 14th over. Finally in 16th, Ojha dismissed Jadeja to wrap up the match for MI!
I was really stunned by the performance, so were the other CSK fans in the stadium! But I knew, it wasn't the end of IPL for them and they will surely bounce back from this. I applauded for Mumbai's performance. It was great to see both the teams hand-shaking and having a chat with smiles on their faces.
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| Sachin- fielding on the boundary line |
Many of you may not have seen the scenes there. But Bravo, Pollard,
Smith and Jason Holder were having a long chat, they were sharing jokes
on the sideline. Dhoni also joined them after a while and was teasing
Pollard about those dropped catches and also was saying why did
he(Pollard) take his(MSD's) catch? We could see that from their
expressions and movements of hands. While Raina and Bhajji were sitting
near the boundary line and chatting about something serious. Michael
Hussey received orange cap from Ravi Shastri, with mixed emotions. Nita
Ambani after doing a quick interview ran to be a part of presentation
ceremony! There was lot's of noise so was unable to hear what players
said. But Johnson was named man of the match!!
Overall it
was a good experience. But would surely have loved it more if it was an
interesting match rather than a one-sided affair. Loved the experience.
Must watch a match in a full house, at least once in a lifetime!
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| Hand shake! |
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4 West Indians and Dhoni
And Bhajji and Raina on the sideline |
