I was really looking forward to watching a test
match at the Eden Gardens. The first look at the Eden Gardens doesn’t really
give you the feeling that it’s huge. It looks very new though, with it being
renovated very recently. The arrangements for the match looked very much in
order at the outset. Things were about to change very fast. The Cricket
Association of Bengal and Kyazoonga do not have the courtesy to inform people
that the tickets that they have bought are no longer available because of a
mistake that they had committed. It’s just ridiculous how people get
treated here in India.
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| The hour long queue I stood in |
How would anyone want to watch
a match at the ground with such treatment from the management!! Clearly no one
cares about it and writing more about it wouldn’t solve any problem. But, I
still would just want to put my experience out there so that people know.
There was just one queue to pick-up tickets
booked online and an hour after I stand in the queue I am told that the stand
that I booked is blocked. So, I’ve got to make do with watching the match from
Deep Mid-Wicket rather than from Long-Off which I was promised originally.
Things have just gotten ridiculous, I thought, with one guy shouting "हंगामा खड़ा कर देंगे अगर हमारा टिकेट हमें नहीं दिया तो" (Roughly translates to “There’s
going to be a ruckus out here if you don’t give me the ticket that I had booked”).
Nothing came out of the fight in the end and I had to leave with tickets that I
didn’t ask for, something I have never faced in Bangalore. But, Kolkata has a
good thing about it too. The tickets that cost 1000 INR a day in Bangalore cost
100 INR in Kolkata due to which I was able to buy tickets for all 5 days and
choose the days on which I would watch the match at the ground. I chose that I
would watch the match on days 2, 4 and 5.
Day 1
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| Me and Andy at Kala Kunj, Kokata |
I couldn’t make it to the ground. But,
went around to a couple of places in town, checking the score constantly to be
prepared for what I was going to witness the next day. I don’t regret not
watching Sachin getting to a scratchy 76 as many pointed out. It wouldn’t have
been the best thing to see him fight hard to get to 76 anyway. The highlight of
the day came when I went to Andy Zaltzman’s stand-up comedy show.
The
tickets were sold with a big picture of Andy Zaltzman on it, but it was more to
misguide people and bring them in so that they could watch more of the sad and
boring Kalkutta Komedians. I just thought it was disrespect shown to Andy
considering how bad the Kalkutta Komedians performed. Anyhow, it was worth it
because I got to meet him and also got entertained for a full half hour.
Day 2
The
moment I stood in the queue to enter the stadium I knew the security within the
stadium was just horrible. They were just here to watch the match and not take
care of any of the people in there. I could have just walked past the metal
detector without being checked and the security guards wouldn’t have said a
thing. My tickets, remember were supposed to be in front of Deep Mid-Wicket. I
went up to the first floor, only to realise that the stands did not have any barricade
separating one from the other, little did I know that the tickets had seat numbers
on them which I realised later when a few policemen were shooing people away
having checked their tickets. I managed to sneak past a few policemen in the
stadium and got a seat behind Long-On amidst a few Brits who were as boring as
Trott or Bell when they get set at the crease. I clicked a few pictures of the
stadium and the surroundings.
The
initial part of the first session was a good one to watch. India lost the 3
wickets they had in hand pretty early and Alistair Cook and Nick Compton got
off to a great start knocking a few boundaries. Later on, as they usually tend
to do, they got very dull and I was wondering how I would get through the rest
of the day. Then, I got to meet Andy at lunch and had some great discussions
about cricket and where the match was headed through the rest of the day. If
not for the fight between Cricinfo and the BCCI, Andy would have been in the
press box and would have been a dull day for me. We went on to meet on days 4
and 5 as well. Cook, then got to his century and that to my amazement received
generous applause from the Eden crowd. It was just enthralling to see Cook’s
batting. He would not hit a well timed shot straight to the fielder. There was
one moment where I was sitting right behind Deep Extra Cover and Ashwin was
bowling to Cook. That cover drive from Cook will remain etched in my memory.
England then went on to finish the day in a really commanding position.
Day 3
Having
gone that far, I decided to take a trip out of town and thought Day 3 was the
best to do that considering that the dullest of batsman, Trott and Bell were
lined up. Also, the Indian bowlers weren’t doing anything special at that
stage. So I headed out to Bandel, where there was a church, Hanseshwari where
there was this old temple and also a place called Imambara which was supposed
to be a place of learning Muslim Texts and Scriptures. The day just went along peacefully
as I clicked a large number of pictures. I had a real chuckle at lunch when I
found that Cook was run out trying to get out of the way of a throw from Kohli.
I was also sad at the same time that he didn’t get his double hundred. It was a
brilliant innings. The English were still in a great position and here I was,
going to the ground on Day 4.
Day 4
Even
though I thought it was going to be a lousy day of cricket before I headed out
to the ground, it turned out to be the most exciting day of cricket that this
test match produced. This time though, as soon as I entered, my ticket was
checked for the seat number and I was directed to my seat right on top behind
the pillars where I could see nothing. I again managed to sneak past a few policemen
and came to a location much closer to all the action. It was a brilliant
session of play. India knocked all 4 wickets over in the space of 14 runs and
then Sehwag and Gambhir engaged themselves in brilliant stroke-play bringing
the Eden Crowd to life that was desperate for something to cheer about during
the whole of the second day. As Andy put it in his blog on the second day “The
patient Eden Gardens crowd roared adequate pieces of fielding as if they had
just seen someone juggled ten piranhas without getting bitten even once”, it really was true. The desperation in the crowd was felt
and it seemed as though their request would finally be accepted. India finished
the first session without the loss of a wicket and looked like they would go on
to get more. At lunch, I managed to sneak past a few other policemen and got a
seat placed somewhere behind Deep Extra Cover and Long off. I began to feel
that there would be a fight-back and we all know how a fight-back is received
at the Eden.
Then
came the biggest anti-climax. Sehwag played a loose shot, first ball after
lunch off Swann and was bowled. Then, Pujara got run-out, Gambhir was caught
behind, Tendulkar was caught at slip, Yuvraj was bowled, Dhoni was caught at
slip and Kohli was caught behind, all in one session. The crowd still stayed in
and remained patient. After tea, when Zaheer showed no intentions of hanging
around and got out finally, I saw just one guy get up and leave saying "अब क्या देखना है!! इशांत क्रीज़ पे है, चलो चलो" (Roughly translates to “What’s
left to see now? Ishant is at the crease. Come on!! Let’s leave”) But a large
part of the crowd still stayed in and an hour and 16m later when Ishant’s
resistance finally came to an end after Monty Panesar shattered his stumps, it
was heart-warming to see the ovation he received when he left. The crowd was
delighted that there was someone who showed some application to support Ashwin
who looked so classy at the other end, almost VVS Laxman-like. Ojha, then
showed great application to stay at the crease and that was when it would have led
anyone who had entered the stadium just then, to believe that India just had to
bat out 12 overs to save the match, not 12 overs and another day. The applause for each forward defence that Ojha offered was astonishing. The Eden crowd is something
different. They deserved better. It was all going to end the morning after. If
one of the Indian batsmen had gone on the story would have been very different.
The Indian batsmen even gave the Barmy Army a chance to out-sing the Eden Crowd
and they did very well. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” especially set off the roof
vibrating and why wouldn’t they! England had just finished a 4th day
in a row in commanding position.
Day 5
I
had to get to the ground as early as possible. It could’ve all been over in a
flash before I even got there. I reached half an hour before play started and
got to see the Indians playing some football. They all seemed in a fun mode. I
got to see Pujara practising his cover drives, although I wondered why.
Moments
later when the play began, the inevitable happened in 10 deliveries. Ojha was bowled
off a decent delivery from Anderson leaving England to get a paltry 41 off a
minimum of 85 overs. I was again amazed to see people still coming in at this
stage into the ground, something I had never expected. At one point, from a few
conversations I overheard, I thought the crowd here didn’t understand cricket. But,
I realised later that, that’s how they are. When India got off to a good start
picking 3 early wickets with only 8 on the board, the crowd came to life again
with each ball being cheered. Andy came out with his stats saying the lowest 1st
class score was 12 all-out and the lowest Test score was 26 all-out. There were
a few jokes shared about India getting a hat-trick and England collapsing. But
the English managed to get the target with ease with the Barmy Army singing the
Christmas Carol Jingle Bells in the background. Ian Bell got the final runs and
celebrated with a fist-pump. Cook thanked the Barmy Army for their support at
the presentation and it was all over on the 5th morning.
Apart
from the false ticket promise, the pathetic security checks, the extremely overpriced
horrendous food at the stadium, it was a good test match. The Kolkata police
managed the crowd outside the stadium very well, something that I’ve never seen
in Bangalore.
The
Eden crowd is just amazing, lots of support for the Indian cricket team and
lots of generous applause for the visiting team. I honestly thought they
deserved better cricket. Now I know how they must have felt when the India v
England match in the 2011 World Cup was moved to Bangalore.
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