It's six-fifty at dusk in Panchkula, ten minutes before the game begins, and the ground is nearly empty. The crowd's pushing around six hundred. Eight times as many could fit. What will next month be like, when the other league begins? Now the fireworks start. One after another the rise with a glow and explode in a shower. But crackers are an extension of a mood. That there's no connect makes the display a sad one. Even the bouncy castle lies unused at the far end. The bouncy castle!
Andrew Hall, aged 32, opens the bowling. If every bowler had his kind of figures, no team would score more than 160. A welcome man to lead this attack. Wavell Hinds, the West Indian, clips a swinger off his pads for a single, Sachin Dholpure swings at one before taking one run, and Hinds ends it with a thump through the offside. Tony Greig predicts that Hall will want an early wicket.
Tuffey goes through one over, Dholpure thumps one over Hall's head for four in the next, and in the next, after two wides, watches Hinds swat the legitimate delivery over square leg for a large six. But this ground is only 65 meters long. Hinds then wafts - he does this often - and jumps as if his shoelaces were tied. Later that over, Dholpure drives one for a near six. Now the crowd reacts, but what are they cheering for?
Now Amit Mishra is brought on. Yesterday, in a fit of hyperbole worthy of television, Jock Campbell called him the best off-spinner on the planet. His first ball, to Hinds, is a wide. The delivery two balls later is dismissed over long off. It is a towering shot, the kind that hangs in the air at a certain height. It lands beside a very enthusiastic bunch of sign-waving supporters.
The next ball is hit through the covers. Again those supporters rise and cheer. Two overs later, Dholpure powers one out of the stadium over that very stand. The same supporters rise once more while the people around them applaud politely. This is strange, but perhaps people carrying yellow signs are more likely to jump around. Or perhaps not.
Hinds chugs along well, smashing two sixes off the leg-spinner. Both times the same crowd jumps up and down. This approach to building excitement would have been more believable had those supporters been spread across the ground. Meanwhile Dholpure lifts another over long on, smashes Chris Cairns over long off to bring up Ahmedabad's 100 in the 12th over, and then hits him through cover, passing fifty. For a small guy he sure hits big.
Hinds follows with another six. Finally, after putting up the league's biggest partnership (120), Dholpure flicks Dinesh Mongia airily to square leg, where Matthew Elliott dives to take a good catch. In the same over Mongia bowls Damien Martyn, and plays a hand in running out Hinds, who runs half way down the pitch towards an unresponsive partner. Finally some real excitement.
The prevalent misconception about Twenty20 is that it is for batsmen running amok. This pitch was certainly designed for that purpose. But a sport that follows a pattern is hardly of interest. The spectators - apart from those in the unusually excitable stand - are a good barometer of this. They barely move, rising to clap only when a wicket falls. And when Cairns takes two in two, dismissing S Sriram and Murray Goodwin, their response is warm. A league battling for validation needs predictability least of all.
Now it gets interesting. Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Heath Streak play a series of cross-batted shots, nearly run into each other, and back up with generous strides in the final mad dash for runs. Streak slices one and hits two down the ground for consecutive fours in the final over by Hall who, in keeping with his strike rate, has an economy rate of 7.5. Chandigarh ends with 158 for 5, a competitive total, given their bowling attack.
Ahmedabad's bowlers begin in miserly form, giving away ten runs in the first two overs, and maintain a tight line against Elliott and Lou Vincent. While Jason Gillespie is picked for singles, Vincent barely adapts to Rakesh Patel's bounce.
After struggling in his first over, he attempts to swing Patel over midwicket in the second, but only manages a hopeless top-edge to Hinds at third man. Patel's is a closed and busy action. Where Gillespie runs in and delivers with a casual grace, Patel gains momentum as the pitch nears. Then there is a blur and the ball is at the batsman.
But right now all this doesn't matter. The pitch is already behaving strangely. Some that are pitched on a good length sit up, waiting to be swatted away, as Tejinder Singh duly does to Gillespie, while others snake below the batsman's waist. As a result, they concede 31 runs for one wicket in five overs.
The cameras cut to Neha Dhupia, who is interviewed in the dugout while Elliott bats. A couple of journalists walk briskly to the television to listen. Realising that others are looking at him, he collects himself and says, "These days we have to put in Bollywood quotes in Twenty20 match reports. Not the best of times."
S Sriram is in to pick up Elliott with his first ball. The end is surely near. Mongia hits the next for six, and Cairns, who came in at four, thwacks the last one out of the ground over long on. Like this they keep the score moving, besides practically a single every ball. Now, in 42 they require 66.
Cairns starts the carnage with a powerfully swept four off Sodhi. 57 needed in 36. The bat comes down harder now, and balls fly across the ground. Cairns is not fussy about routes. He places balls between fielders, either through a cordon or over them. Now fifty are need in five.
Cairns changes gloves. Gillespie loosens up. At last he ambles in and bowls a quick one at Mongia, who miscues it. They scamper for one run. The next, to Cairns moves away a touch, beating Cairns comprehensively. They run two singles. This isn't enough, and Cairns knows it. He backs away and hits Gillespie high but not long, and is done in by the fielder at long on. The Ahmedabad players high-five while crossing over. The next over their fate is confirmed when Mongia is caught at the boundary.
In twenty minutes the result is known: the Ahmedabad Rockets, who did not exist last year, win it by 19 runs. The crowd - guess which one? - explode. They shake their '4' and '6' signs. A barrage of fireworks goes off. The camera cuts to Cairns, who is in a mood most foul. He lies stretched and slumped in the dug out, scowling. The stands empty quickly, apart from the persistent sign-wavers. The crackers are relentless. The press box vibrates unnaturally, as if it's all temporary, and could come crashing any moment.
Rahul Bhatia, a former correspondent with Cricinfo, is currently on sabbatical to work on a book on his favorite subject -- cricket. Rahul will file regular reports/features/interviews for Rediff during the ICL tournament. More of him here. (http://grch.wordpress.com/)
