The IPL experience : Braborne Vs DY Patil

IPL is over.. phew.. !! Though obviously the aftermath isn't yet:). Once the Shoaib-Sania daily updates finished, started the Modi saga, giving enough work to the Indian media.. This latest saga will continue to give us many more 'manu-ranjan ka baap' moments for sometime.. but we still need to wait and watch for the end to this..

Anyways, this article is more about the IPL stadium experience again. Most of the earlier IPL league matches that I saw were in Braborne stadium (of which I have already written before in detail). They were fun to watch and so I kept going again and again to see those matches. Saw the IPL final in the DY Patil Stadium however and it was a different experience. Not sure if I would want to go there often though!

The stadium is beautiful! Very well constructed: its huge and there are no columns blocking your view at any location. Any seat you sit on, you get a complete view of the ground (and this was quite different from Braborne). The sound and light systems were modern and very good. This time, we did know who was batting and bowling at any time:). The atmosphere was electric too. The crowds cheering wildly at Mumbai boundaries. Mexican waves happened at the stadium, finally (unlike Braborne)! The high-end seats still were a dampener, but the waves still survived:).

The match was decently fun too, low scoring, one-sided at times, but near the end it did look though that MI (read Pollard) may just take the match away from CSK. Did not happen though but did give us some tense moments. The fielding wasn't upto the mark. Bowling was good and batting in patches was a treat to watch. The result of course was preferable since CSK won, so I am not complaining:).

Though one thing which was very unfair was that the finals were not being played on a neutral ground as is done in major tournaments. Kudos to CSK for pulling it through but its tough to play such a high pressure match in front of a hostile crowd. You take a wicket and there is pin drop silence from the crowd! Am sure sometimes you even doubt whether it was even a wicket or not!!! As far as the crowd goes, Mumbai did have the upper hand! As they did with the star cast who came to support them, Sush, Kunal Kapoor, Dino Morea etc. Ambani and his sons also landed up their helicopter [I think should confess, I did envy them, avoiding two hours of terrible traffic in the heat, wah wah]. Nina was surprisingly missing though, maybe after effect of the Bhajji lift?:)

Anyways, all this was good. Only negative was that the new stadium is just too too far off and not at all easy to get to! Maybe if the authorities had started a shuttle bus to the stadium for the match, would have been helpful in reducing the traffic jams there? Or anything else that would help? Also, considering its a new stadium, some proper parking near the stadium could definitely have been expected!! But guess, foresight isnt something we can really credit our planners with, can we? Getting in and getting out was definitely a nightmare! And that too since mobiles were not allowed inside the stadium.

All in all, a good experience because it was an IPL final, however would not make this effort to see other league matches.

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