Matchless moments

What if the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is losing? The RCB fans clearly have a whale of a time at the stadium  no matter what. For every match, they wear their passion on their sleeves and hats. The recent match between RCB and Mumbai Indians had true blue RCB supporters flaunting their style as well as their accessories. And they are coming out in flying colours.

Apart from headgears of myriad colours and T-shirts, during the last match, some people even created their own accessories to profess their support and get noticed. Vijay Anand and K Ramachandra are gym instructors and big fans of Chris Gayle.

The duo picked up a cap with extentions, all in an effort to resemble Gayle’s hairstyle. “It might sound like a far-fetched thing but I was hoping I could catch Gayle’s attention by wearing a cap like the way he wears it,” said Vijay Anand. Aashana is an RCB supporter and her husband Ankit, a Mumbai Indian fan. Aashana not only slipped into a red tee, but also wore a headgear that looked like a crown.

 “I picked this up because it has red and white roses on it. I bought it just to wear to the match,” said Aashana. Her husband Ankit explained that he made sure he bought a blue Mumbai Indian jersey so that he wouldn’t feel out of place in the sea of red. “I am from Mumbai and I am sure Mumbai will do exceptionally well this season. They have such exceptional players,” he added. 

Deepak, a second year pre-university student, wore a cap that looked like a replica of Lasith Malinga’s hair. “Malinga had golden hair but now it’s black. I want him to get back his golden hair so I wore this cap just so that he gets the message,” says Deepak. He adds that he got his aunt to pick it up especially for the match. 

Some others like Ravi and Hiremath, both professionals, were in red T-shirts and colourful caps. “This cap has all the colours of all the teams playing this season but our red Tees are a proof that we are RCB supporters. Watching the players in flesh and blood is like a dream-come-true,” they said. Accessorising is not only limited to RCB’s legions of ‘desi’ fans, expatriates too join the gang to sport the trademark RCB paraphernalia. Hans van Zon, Judy and Thies are from The Netherlands and have been living in the City for a while now. “I’ve been a regular at all the IPL matches for the last three years. We never see something like this back in our country. It’s football that we have all played and known all along,” he said. His son Thies is a class nine student of Stonehill International School and decided to come to the match despite a math exam. “I do have an exam but I still wanted to come to the match. I play a lot of football and cricket back in school. Who would want to miss watching a match live?” he asked. 

Sinead, Lisa and Fiona arrived in Bengaluru on work and will be staying here in the City for two weeks. “We arrived only today but when we heard about an IPL match, we wanted to come and watch it live. We are both excited and surprised by what we are seeing. The energy is truly infectious,” shared Lisa from the United Kingdom. Nicole Moore from Scotland is also here on work but she confessed that she couldn’t sit still with all the noise. “I was inspired to pick up a flag and wave it in the air and cheer aloud, just like everybody else in the stadium,” she said. And joining her in all the fun is her colleague Max Handforth from Yorkshire in Northern England. “I don’t follow cricket but after spending a few hours here I’ve understood a little of the game,” he said. 

The IPL always has a few stars from the Kannada film industry trooping in. They feel IPL brings in a lot of life in the City. Tilak, who was there, added “I find IPL the best way to chill after a hard day’s work. I follow cricket and watching it in such a posh ambience is thrilling.” Sanjjanaa came with a couple of her friends “When I am not shooting during IPL, you can be sure I would be at the match.

More than the game, it’s the idea of coming together with a lot of friends and relaxing,” she said. Tarun, who has just debuted in the Kannada film industry says, “This is all new to me and I am enjoying every bit of what I am seeing around,” he wrapped up.