Fans screaming their lungs out at their heroes inside the stadium, chants of ABD, ABD, ABD reverberating across Chinnaswamy Stadium and beyond, a few hundreds of them, braving chilly weather and enduring multiple security checks, waiting for their turn to get into the arena, street vendors making hay by selling flags, team jerseys and headgears.
These were the scenes witnessed on the opening day of the second Test between India and South Africa. The first day of the Test reported a very good attendence of 22,600. Whoever says Test cricket is losing its sheen under the onslaught of limited overs cricket needs to rethink. AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, for obvious reasons, drew loud cheers. In fact, AB has more fan following in Bengaluru than most of the players of current Indian team.
Basavaraj and six of his friends have come from Tumakuru to watch those out of world strokes from AB de Villiers and AB didn’t disappoint them either. Srivatsa A and his brother, cricket fans from Bengaluru, echoed same feelings. The duo want their hero Virat Kohli score big and India win the Test macth. Manas Jaganath, an IT employee and an avid test cricket fan, believes “Test matches bring out the real essence of cricket and I love the rivetting contest between the bat and the ball for five days.” Not for nothing cricket is a religion in India. The sport has no age and gender barrier. A 74-year old Vihash Pandey and his septuagenarian wife Renuka Pandey, from BTM layout, were at the venue along with their 15-member family. “We all watch cricket together in our house and this is great place to spend time on the weekend, he says.
Similarly, all the entries to the stadium were abuzz with activities. While, some proudly donned the Indian flags, few painted tricolour on their faces as they waited in the long queues, right from 8.30 am, to pass multiple security checks at the gates. Young Deepak Kumar of Madivala was disappointed as he was not allowed to take his digital camera inside the stadium.
Due to the huge turnout, parking remained a challenge for cricket enthusiasts. The police were on their toes to ensure smooth movement of traffic. Besides, the ‘tiger’ vehicle towed away many vehicles parked in ‘no parking’ zone.
Boisterous response
Apart from the raging debate over the nature of the pitch, the first Test at Mohali came in for discussion for the lack of spectator support. The contest, which India eventually won by 108 runs, was played mostly in front of empty stands. However, it was a different story at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where fans turned out in large numbers. With a total attendance of 22,600, the first day of the second Test was a noisy affair.
In an attempt to have good crowd support, the KSCA has provided free passes for 25,000 school children and each day of the match will witness 5,000 children enjoying the cricketing action. The Bengaluru stadium has always seen an electrifying atmosphere and as an interesting second day beckons, more people are expected to flock the stadium.
Kids rev up the atmosphere
As many as 5,000 children from different schools were given complimentary passes to mark Children’s Day and 100th test match of AB de Villiers, says Vinay Mruthyunjaya, official spokesperson of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
He added that they were expecting 5,000 schoolchildren each on all the days. Nearly 150 tribal students from Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra (VGKK) and 516 school students from Sindhi High School, Hebbal too had a first experience of live cricket. Vimala Nanjappa, a teacher, complimented the association for giving a chance to children to watch cricket at the stadium.
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