What we heard in the stands....
The girl with blue braces: Sirat Sethi loves THE MAN from Maximum City so much that even her braces are blue! “I love Sachin Tendulkar. I have always supported Mumbai because I have been Sachin’s fan. I can do anything for him! When he retired, I cried a lot,” said the 16-year-old who was at Eden Gardens Club House with parents Prince and Jasmeet Sethi. They flew in from Thailand to catch Mumbai Indians in action against KKR. “It’s our New Year. So, we have a week off,” smiled Sirat. And wasn’t she excited when Kieron Pollard hit that winning run off Piyush Chawla!
Take a bow: While it was Virat Kohli who bowed down to Sachin Tendulkar in the World T20 match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens last month, this time it was the turn of (l-r) Probuddha Roy Chowdhury, Arjun Banerjee and Ritam Mitra, friends for 21 years and cheering for KKR at Eden Gardens for the last four years. Their god? Gautam Gambhir, after his half-century. “He won us the final in the 2011 cricket World Cup, he should be there in the Indian team for sure,” said Arjun, the biggest Gauti fan among the trio. The three followed it up with the Champion dance during the Russell Roar. Their joy was however short-lived thanks to some Rohit-ting. “Well, Eden Gardens has always been his fortress. His innings just took away the game from us,” added the NSHM Knowledge Campus student, as the trio left E Block.
The cricket family: Swapna Bhattacharjee was at the edge of her seat throughout the KKR vs Mumbai Indians game. “I don’t look anywhere else when the match is happening. TV has replays. A live match doesn’t. So, I cannot afford to miss even one ball!” said the 64-year-old retired school-teacher, who has been coming to Eden Gardens ever since she got married in 1977. Her cricket-watching partner on Wednesday at the Club House? Her husband Shyamal Bhattacharjee who has been frequenting Eden Gardens since the time Richie Benaud captained Australia. “Khaoa daoa bondho korey we watch cricket. Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kapil Dev, Viv Richards, Gordon Greenidge are some of their yesteryear faves. Sourav Ganguly is an all-time favourite, of course. As is a beautiful straight drive by Sachin Tendulkar. So, a mega serial or cricket? CRICKET! During cricket times, they catch Dadagiri, their favourite, between breaks.
Little Knight: Tauqeer, 5, might not know the name of every Knight but that didn’t stop him from shouting his lungs out for the men in purple. “My favourite is Gautam Gambhir,” he said after taking a break, rather reluctantly, from cheering for the Knights. His face had KKR letters in purple and yellow. A team headband, a KKR flag, and… a Mohawk completed his Eden Gardens gear. His hairspiration? Andre Russell of course!
Main hoon Superman, Gauti ka fan: Sayan Chowdhury is a Sachin Tendulkar fan, but on his first visit to Eden Gardens for a KKR home game, there was no question about where his loyalties lay. In a Superman tee, he stood on his chair for the entire duration of the game. His Superman in the KKR squad? “Gautam Gambhir. He’s not just a great batsman, but a brilliant captain too,” said the Class VIII student of Sudhir Memorial Institute, Madhyamgram.
What we felt
I have never watched a match at Eden Gardens. I have been covering IPL since inception. Yes, you read it right. I have NEVER watched a match at Eden Gardens. Oh! Yusuf Pathan just hit a six? Turn around NOW. Is Shah Rukh Khan is trying to jump off his B Block balcony? Sourav Ganguly vs KKR; Dada just got out and he is probably exiting cricket FOREVER; no time to shed a tear; scan for Shah Rukh Khan. Yes, I go to B Block year after year. Stand up on my seat and ZOOM in on SRK. I LOVE it. I come back and write about it too. No regrets. But, I have never watched a game at Eden Gardens! That was a regret for sure. Till…
... April 13. No SRK meant “play-it-by-the-ear” instructions from office. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! As I climbed up to my seat in the Club House Upper Tier, Eden Gardens hit me. WOWWWW! What a view! Panoramic. Sweeping. Is that what you call the magic of Eden? For the first time in nine years, I felt a rush.
There’s point. That’s deep backward point. And that’s fine leg. Terms which I keep hearing and which were just terms till now. No TV screen shows it. No B Block seat shows it like this.
From here, I could actually feel the sixes soar out of the park. And, those drives by Rohit Sharma.
I have never been a Rohit Sharma fan. Yes, he is good (well, he’s the boss’s favourite), but I love aggro boys. Sourav Ganguly. Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma has always looked oh-so-lazy to me. The other day Manoj Tiwary was telling me how much he wants Rohit to fire. “Such talent and he is a great guy too!” Manoj said. I have never seen Rohit Sharma play live at Eden, a ground which has rarely let him go empty-handed — 177 vs West Indies in November 2013; 264 vs Sri Lanka in November 2014.... I have seen it all on TV. As I watched Rohit take the match away from KKR on Wednesday, it struck me how effortless he makes it look. Much like Roger Federer’s classical forehands. Or Messi’s magical dribble. No slogging. Clean hitting that had all the thunder but without any noisy storm brewing. Rohit’s strokes left a sweet aftertaste in my mouth. A Twenty20 innings that you can savour long after the floodlights have dimmed.
Yes, he left his mark at Eden Gardens yet again... 84 off 54 balls. And, this time, on my heart too. R for Rohit. R for the Romance called cricket. Jiyo!
Saionee Chakraborty
