What A Show!
Apr 18th, 2008 | By Aditya | Category: Top Stories
What a Show! The IPL show kicked off with a spectacular show today that absolutely was world class. The stadium was absolutely jam packed - some 50,000 people crowded in to the Chinnaswami Stadium to see what kinds of stunts will be in store. And they were not disappointed. Shankar Mahadevan was absolutely brilliant, as he came out to one of the better live performances that I’ve seen. He sang several songs, including the hit “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”, quite apt for this occasion.
There was no shortage of fancy-shmonshy laser shows, and fancily dressed performers doing their thing. Lots of song-and-dance with floating dancers, dancers on stilts and Japanese models in bubbles and all kinds of interesting showgirls! At one point, there were 8 acrobats apparently hung mid air holding the flags of the 8 teams! It was quite brilliant if you were in the stadium! But the real show-clincher for me was the fireworks show. The whole sky over the stadium was like it was on fire, the dark of the night completely overwhelmed by all kinds of fireworks. Spectacular!
And as Ravi Shastri introduced the captains, the stadium thundered with applause. Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Dhoni, Yuvraj, Ganguly and Sehwag received roaring applause. Even Shane Warne received a noticeably loud applause from the audience. They’ve certainly warmed up to the idea of foreigners playing (and even leading) the IPL teams. But it was Sachin who received the biggest roar by far! Well, no matter which team he’s leading, the little master always demands loads of respect! The stadium even broke out in chants of “Sachin… Sachin…” . Fun Stuff!
But then something interesting happened. As Sharad Pawar, the big boss of the BCCI, walked up to the stage the entire stadium unmistakably booed him! There were loud roars of “booo booooooooo” throught the stadium. The ICC’s acting chairman also recived the same treatment. And then, as Lalit Modi started giving gyaan to an audience desperately waiting for action, he got booed out as well. Modi had a sheet of some 10 pages which I think he intended to give, but had to cut it short thanks to the impatient audience.
But as the cheerleaders came out, the crowd was pacified again. I must admit, Vijay Malla’s got style! The Washington RedSkins, as the cheerleaders are called, put up a good show, and the audience got exactly what they came for. One dude was also holding up a poster saying “I came here for the GIRLS… NOT THE CRICKET”. Well, he definitely got what he came for.
All in all, it was a brilliant opening show. And I sure hope you didn’t miss it!
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The Dark side of IPL!
We had bought nine Rs.1090 tickets for I Stand and expected to at least get a seat to sit down and watch the match. However, when we got there, the stand was overflowing with people. There was no space for us to get into the seating area. My two kids, both les than 10 years, had to jump over the side bars to get out of the steps as they were being literally crushed by the crowd. We somehow managed to get out of the stadium and went home, writing off the ticket cost as bad investment. The security personnel and organizing staff were least interested in helping us. There were lots of people like us but no one to help.
The IPL always compares itself to the professional sports in Europe and the US but they are way behind when it comes to practice. I have attended many events in the US and never had to face this sort of situation. Talk is indeed cheap.
It was quite clear that either the organizers had sold way more tickets than the stand could accommodate or people without tickets were being let in for financial consideration by guards on duty. Either way, it cuts a very sorry figure of the organizational skills and professionalism of the premier sporting body in the country. Here we were, having bought tickets for even two year old because we recognize the need for the organizers to make a return on their investments. But the honest ticket holders like us were cheated by the same organizers!
The thing that we felt really bad about was that we were cheated for being honest. After all, there is way too much disincentive for being honest in this country. The IPL experience proves that even the richest sporting body and their affiliates are no exception to this. And there is no mechanism for us to hold them accountable towards the very people who are bringing money into the game- fans like us.
I have to agree with you vishal. The facilities at the stadium were horrible and it didn’t seem like any attention was paid to the plight of the spectators. If these folks don’t improve their standards, they are going to be looking at empty stadiums soon!
i still dnt understand wht was so gr8 abt the inaugeration ceremony? and even if it was gr8 whts the point if u keep getting complains as abovementioned….IPL is one of the most hyped events one wud ever see
I agree with you vibhash, that IPL is the most hyped event we’ve seen in recent times. That’s why when the floodlights go off in the middle of a match at Kolkata, it makes for a lot of fun!
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