T2O :-
Wankhede Stadium :-
First of all, I have to say I’m not a big fan of cricket. But, Yesterday I went to see a T2O cricket match in Wankhede Stadium ( Churchgate, Mumbai ). I have to say I enjoyed a lot. It was a match between North Mumbai Panthers vs SoBo SuperSonics. It was fun to watch, you could feel the vibes,, the crowd’s spirit, it was all cheerful and it relieves you from stress of day to day life.
Events at stadium :-
I reached the stadium early at about 5:30 PM in the evening. At that time, the stadium was empty. Only few people were present in the stadium at that time. Even the anchor would wave at the crowd and everybody would cheer it. At first, there was a music show of a singer named “Divine”. He was the same person who sang in the movie “Gully boy”. Though I’m not a big fan of him, I kind of liked it. He was like singing and roaming the whole cricket pitch. He was singing the famous songs like “Azadi” and “Apna Time Aayegaa”.
Before the match started, players came onto the ground and were greeted by famous player Sachin Tendulkar. When he came onto the ground, the crows started cheering by calling his name “Sachin”. Saching Tendulkar made the toss in which the team “Panthers” won the toss and chose to bat.
After the match started, the crowd would cheer even more, they mainly supported the “Panthers” team. When camera would roll, they would cheer even more for their own picture to come onto the screen. The match was ongoing and there were some LBW’s, Run out’s, Catch drop etc, the crows was enjpoying all of that. They would together count the numbers from 1 to 10 backwards in support of team “Panthers”. The team that was not supported i.e. SuperSonics was getting pressurized but was playing good in the start but afterwards they started dropping simple catches while fielding in the field. Rest of the match was similar to what we see on TV except that it was a real life experience. This match was broadcasted on various Sports Channels.
We were having topmost seat in stadium and the view of match was clear to us. We could see everything but it was very tiny. We had a seat to sit and we were comfortable but when we went to lower ground level, it was all the more better. There wasn’t a place to sit at Ground floor, so we had to stand but people were still enjoying the match. There were camera’s recording at Ground floor and people wanted their picture to come on T.V., so they cheered. There was a lot of noise, commotion at the stadium but it was all nice to see. People were even turning their flashlights on, when particular number of overs were completed when the Anchor announced to. The food available was cheaper than the movie theatres and there were hawkers everywhere in the stadium.
The best part of the match was that the ticket we bought was for only Rs. 100/-, more cheaper than that of IPL. The tickets were priced between Rs. 70/- to Rs. 150/-, Rs. 150/- being the highest and similarly IPL tickets are priced between Rs. 800/- to Rs. 12000/-, you can compare them both. My experience was different than that of IPL except that the teams and players in both the matches were different.
I have to say, if you’re a cricket fan, you should watch a T2O match in a stadium. I’m not a real Cricket fan but still I liked the match. Watching on T.V. and in a stadium are two completely different experiences.
Few Photos that I clicked :-
Thanks for seeing my blog. Have a nice day.