Its an exciting match at Kolkata’s world famous Eden Gardens - The Deccan Chargers are locked in an low-scoring but exciting match with the home team - The KnightRiders. Hussey is holding up one end, with the Kolkata KnightRiders needing 29 runs off 3.4 overs. Ojha comes into bowl and …………

The lights at the stadium go off.

No seriously. The whole stadium is plunged into darkness as ALL the floodlights in one tower failed.

So basically, the $1 billion IPL has suffered its first power failure. I’ve never seen this happen in any game ever, and India is the only place probably in the whole world where this can happen.

The lights came back on about half hour later, and the match continued without a reduction in overs for lost time, so it didn’t disadvantage any team. But this incident points to an embarrassing truth about the IPL - Many of the stadiums are simply not prepared to live up to the hype generated, and the problem is a familiar one in India - Lack of Infrastructure.

A reader of the blog sent in a comment yesterday outlining the terrible facilities for the spectators at the opening game in Bangalore

“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.”

It is really sad to see that the organizers are not paying enough attention to the people that really matter - The spectators. It is the viewers in this cricket-crazy country that are going to determine the success and failure of the IPL, and if the infrastructure and the stadiums are not up to the mark, it is going to be very very difficult to fill up the stadiums.

I can personally vouch for the enormous mess that the car parking situation outside the stadium in Bangalore was. Ridiculous. Even basic facilities like toilets are nearly non-existant at the Bangalore stadium. Having a lounge, good food and drink stalls and even proper seating arrangements is a far ask.

If the BCCI wants to make this a world-class tournament, it had better stand up and start paying attention to detail. Auctioning off players and media rights is all well and good, but they must also plough all that money back into the game by upgrading infrastructure and stadiums.