With the Royals Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) making it to the finals of the IPL with a great season after eight editions of performance or luck costing them no spot in the finals, Bengalureans are feeling everything from jubilance to nerves. “I’m 90 per cent nervous and 10 cent excited,” says Narayan Dileepan Menon, a student.
For teens like Narayan, this will be his first time seeing the home team in the finals since he was too young to remember the details. As Menon says, “I didn’t realise the magnitude of the event back then but now, as a huge cricket fan, it’s really intense. I’m constantly thinking ‘What’s going to happen to my team in the finals?’ ‘Are we going to win?’ Is the drought finally going to end, or is it going to be heartbreak all over again’. It’s a really stressful time.”
To mark the occasion, many are headed to bars and restaurants to watch the crucial match on a big screen alongside other fans, with reports saying that many outlets in the city have sold out. Alister Braganza, senior regional business manager, south, Impressario which owns SOCIAL, notes, “We’re expecting three times the regular Tuesday crowd for the finals. We try to create an ambience that’s like the stadium and people like seeing that crowd and feeling the vibe of the crowd while watching the match,” he says.
Others are taking this as an opportunity to connect with friends or family with a cosy home set up. “This IPL season, I was in my PG and we had our laptops connected to speakers, and supported our home teams while eating a lot of snacks and just enjoying ourselves. But for the finals, I’ll be watching it with all my cousins in Bengaluru with our jerseys on!” says Shreya B, a college student and a cricket player herself, with the moment being special as her cousins were the reasons she became interested in the sport. She adds, “The year 2016 was the first IPL match I watched because my older cousins were watching it and they wouldn’t give me the remote [to change the channel]. My brother was supporting RCB so I also started to support them but since then, RCB has become an emotion for us. We don’t have a title yet but seeing them give their best, we just want them to be happy with the game and play with sportsmanship.”
What are the odds?
Irfan Sait, director of Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC) which has trained cricketers like RCB players Mayank Agarawal, Devdutt Padikkal, and the team’s mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik, is optimistic about RCB’s odds in the upcoming match, saying, “To be honest, on the first day of the auction, I was apprehensive but when the team was made, we thought this was the best year with a balanced side, particularly in the bowling department. The odds are 90 to 10 in favour of RCB,” he laughs, adding, “Dinesh Karthik has done a fabulous job mentoring the players. I’ve seen Devdutt Padikkal train for the last four months, unfortunately he’s had to sit out. But his replacement is more than adequate - Mayank Agarawal has done so well and of course Kohli has done good and come to the finals.” Aspiring young crickets at the institute are as, if not more, eager than the rest of the city, with Sait noting an influx of registrations following RCB’s phenomenal performance this season. “There has been huge hype and an influx of little ones want to join the academy because of RCB. We have seven screens in the academy with a huge one outdoors and the students are gathering to watch the game together. All of them are praying that RCB wins!” says Sait