BENGALURU: You could tell that it wasn’t just another Friday in Bengaluru as soon as you boarded the Metro. It did not matter where you got on from, you would still see the signs. Blue India shirts were the most common ones, followed by caps with the Australian cricket team’s insignia. People with access to neither just wore whatever yellow outfit they could get their hands on — quite a few of them were Chennai Super Kings jerseys. World Cup Cricket was back in the Garden City!
No ODI World Cup hosted by India has passed the Chinnaswamy Stadium by, without making some lasting memories. The 1987 Reliance Cup saw the stadium witness India edge New Zealand in a narrow contest. Nine years later, there was that memorable India-Pakistan quarterfinal, the one where Venkatesh Prasad showed Aamir Sohail just where the changing rooms were. The 2011 Cup brought that thrilling tie between India and England, as well as that upset Irish win over England, to the city.
This time though, Bengaluru doesn’t quite have pride of place. India doesn’t play here until their final game against the Netherlands, which in all likelihood will be a dead rubber. As things stand, it is probable that the fixture before that — New Zealand taking on Sri Lanka — too will have little at stake. No knockout game has been allotted to the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
That did not stop Bengaluru from playing its part on Friday. There were lines forming outside the stadium ninety minutes before the match, small crowds pooled around the desks at the Cubbon Park Metro Station where fans could exchange their e-tickets for physical ones. The narrow walking path that separated the stadium from the permanently jammed Cubbon Road was brimming with people. The healthy crowd that was there when the first ball was bowled had swollen to almost 23,000 strong by the time Australia’s innings were nearing a conclusion.
And boy, did they get their money’s worth! David Warner and Mitchell Marsh’s onslaught was a sight to behold, every six greeted with loud cheers. Warner, in particular, seemed to have struck a chord with Bengaluru and there was a palpable sense of anticipation whenever he took strike. He was serenaded to his hundred by chants of ‘Warner! Warner!’. And it was not that his partner Marsh was ignored, the latter getting a memorable standing ovation after his dismissal.
Yellow may have been the dominant colour at the Chinnaswamy but Pakistan will have no complaints about the crowd here, unlike in their previous match. The only chant at the stadium, not relevant to the match being played out, was the regular rendition of ‘RCB!’. Bengaluru applauded warmly as Shaheen Shah Afridi single-handedly limited the Aussies to a good 50 runs fewer than what they were looking good for. Every delivery of his final over was cheered as he magically transformed a dead wicket into an unplayable one. And when Pakistan began their innings, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq may not have elicited quite the cheers that Warner and Marsh did. But no good shot — and there were plenty of them — went applauded. This is Bengaluru, after all, where good cricket is cheered, no matter who plays it.
There was, however, the undeniable shriek of joy every time Pakistan lost a wicket — this was India’s arch-rivals after all! And after a rather convincing 62-run victory for Australia, few would have left the Chinnaswamy Stadium unhappy. Two 300-plus scores, 25 sixes, and a fifer! What more can you ask for from a cricket match?