Red Road: Six days still to go for the new Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik to step out for the toss with Virat Kohli for the first time at the Eden Gardens this IPL season. But Calcutta is ready to play.
Five ticket counters at the Mohammedan Sporting Club ground opened at 10am on Monday to queues that had started forming as early as 8.30am. By noon, it looked like a big match day was round the corner.
In keeping with the mood, the Eden Gardens is already wearing the home team's signature purple-and-gold. "Vivo IPL 2018" banners have started appearing around the stands and chairs that had been unused since the India-Sri Lanka Test match last November are being given a scrubbing.
"Tickets of only higher denominations ( between Rs 900 and Rs 7,500) are available online for the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). I just have to watch the opening match, which is why I am here in a queue," said Tiyasha Sikder, a first-year student of psychology at Loreto College.
The girl from Behala has a wish list for her Eden debut on Sunday: her favourite cricketer Virat Kohli should do "reasonably well" and KKR must win the match.
With the new IPL anthem Best vs Best released three weeks ago and the frequency of ads on TV and radio increasing since, interest in the tournament is beginning to peak in the run-up to the opener.
In Calcutta, tickets are currently being sold over the counter only for the top-billed first home match. The tournament starts the day before with a Mumbai Indians-Chennai Super Kings match at the Wankhede Stadium.
Many fans queued up for around three hours in humid conditions on Monday to buy tickets. Familiar cries of "Kay kay arrhh, kay kay arrhh" punctuated laughter and banter as they awaited their turn.
Monika Patra from Andul said she was "too fond of Virat to support any other team but his".
The KKR faithful included seasoned campaigners like Mohammed Abuzar, a 24-year-old Tata Consultancy Services employee working night shifts but happy to sacrifice his afternoon sleep to buy tickets. "I would have been at ease with a more experienced KKR captain than Dinesh Karthik, but I am happy with the balance of the side this year. The first match will reveal a lot about the new-look team and I am eagerly waiting to see that," said the Park Circus resident.
