“Oi! Jimmy! Your teacher is here!” Went a cry from the stands, near the sight-screen, and the fan from New Zealand, who was referred to as the teacher, hushed the fellow Kiwi who was shouting.
Turns out Bryce Bevin not only taught Kiwi all-rounder Jimmy Neesham in Grammar school but is friends with his father and also coached Spain’s national rugby team in the 1990s. A rugby coach who loves cricket and is following New Zealand this World Cup on his first visit to India.
Early in the afternoon with the sun beating down, Bevin looks around the largely-empty 1.33 lakh-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, the venue for the opening England vs New Zealand game, to draw a conclusion.
“This ODI format is dying, eh? I believe cricket is a religion in this country, but I can’t blame them for not turning up in large numbers. If I want a proper game of cricket, there is a Test match; for excitement, there is T20. For someone who was involved with sports in a few countries, I can sense that this format isn’t exciting anymore. I can see people will turn up slowly once the sun goes down and if the match becomes interesting.”
Just as Bevin predicted, they did. When New Zealand were taking total control of the game and sprinting towards England’s total of 282, the stands started to fill up. As the floodlights were switched, the 20,000-odd fans got entertainment T20 style.
The one-sided game had a hundred by Wellington boy Rachin Ravindra, whose Bangalore-born father had named him after Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Rachin remained unbeaten along with Devon Conway, who has represented Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League with distinction. New Zealand won by nine wickets and the World Cup had started with a tame surrender by defending champions England.
Sneha Shah, a teenager, was among the late comers. She and her mother got free tickets from her area’s local BJP leader. On the eve of the opening game, The Indian Express had reported that the ruling party had used its ward-level network to mobilise women to fill the world’s biggest cricket stadium.
Shah says she and her mother were here to get a feel of the stadium so they waited for the harsh sun to go down. “We were given tickets this morning, but it was too hot in the afternoon. So we decided to come only in the evening. We even got the food but I’m not going to eat it. I will hand it over to someone needy outside the stadium,” she said.
Meanwhile, for Bevin the memories of the day at cricket in Ahmedabad wouldn’t be just about the imposing Narendra Modi Stadium or his team flying off the blocks. In a remarkable coincidence, he had run into an old friend – after more than 40 years – at the stadium. “Imagine that!” says John Paul, the friend. “I went to grab a bottle of water and see my celebrity friend. Imagine, we meet after 40 years in a dry state in India. Can’t even celebrate with a drink.” The buddies burst in laughter.
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“Last time we met was in 1979,” Bryce says. It was the year of the second ODI World Cup in England where a certain Vivian Richards dazzled and the cricketing world began to fall in love with the new limited-overs format. Four years later, a young Kapil Dev would pose with the Prudential World Cup from the Lord’s balcony and the frame would make India fall in love with ODIs. That would change with the birth of T20 cricket that became an instant hit with cricket fans.
Unlike the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches at this venue, there was an eerie silence outside the main gate with an hour to go for the toss. Even the vendors selling flags, face-painters, fake team jersey sellers, stale-sandwich hawkers wore a disappointed look. There were no bottlenecks, no pushing or shoving. Till late in the evening, the toilets would have remained clean .
As the match wore on, and people began to come in, a queue began to form under the stands for food and evening tea. For neutrals like Meenaben, a local resident and housewife, it was an entertaining outing. “I don’t understand cricket but my grandson wanted to see the game so I had to accompany him. It was a free ticket given to us by BJP leaders in our area. So I came, I don’t know which team is playing … I think one is New Zealand,” she said. She sure can pick the winner.
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