Cricket is back, and the crowd too

By Harichandan A.A.

BANGALORE, MARCH 25. ``In a die-hard cricket country, cricket was never out but the match fixing scandals put a little damper on the game,'' said Amar, a private businessman who had come to watch the India-Australia one-dayer here on Sunday. ``Let us play the game now, put it all behind us and yes, cricket is certainly back,'' he said.

Mr. Amar was not the only person to feel that cricket(ers) should be given another chance in India. People turned up in numbers large enough to give the Traffic police a tough time. When The Hindu spoke to some fans -- from successful businessmen and women to the man selling lime juice on his push cart to die-hard fans visiting Bangalore just for the match -- a majority of them felt that the enthusiasm was back into the game and that match fixing should be put behind the team and the country.

Vijay, a marketing executive and his friends were short of tickets but high on patriotism. ``We are sure that India will win... no there is no match fixing this time,'' they said. ``May be some kind of match fixing might have happened earlier, but not now,'' said Ms. Nishkal who worked for Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd. Ms. Sanyal and her son, Sudhir, who had just finished his Class XII examination had come from Chennai just for the match. They had loved the Test series and now were looking forward to this one.

Making money

Make your money any which way seemed to be the dictum outside the stadium itself. While some sold crude binoculars with made-in- Chickpet labels, lime juice with ice, slices of water melon and even chicken biryani at Rs.15 per plate, others had a go at selling tickets ``in black.'' There was little that the police could do as people were willing to pay the exorbitant prices and did, for a seat in the stands.

``Tickets are not available sir,'' Narasimhamurthy, a waiter at a canteen in Doddaballapur, complained. He had been waiting from 5 a.m. ``They are selling a Rs.600 ticket at Rs.2,000,'' he said. Mr. Poonamchand, a businessman from Kolar Gold Fields who bought a Rs.1,000 ticket for Rs.2,500 after much haggling had no regrets whatsoever. ``I am going to enjoy the match now,'' he beamed.

`Let us watch the match'

``If the politicians can do it why not the cricketers,'' asked Mr. Ravi, a private businessman said. ``See it is not just cricket man, the whole system is rotten... when in Rome do as the Romans... well it is a Sunday, so match fixing or not, let us watch the match right?.''

Now let us have some professional opinions. One senior sports journalist from the City, who didn't want his name mentioned, had this to say: ``I think India has a great chance of winning.''

Asked about match fixing he said, ``I don't think so, not this time... I don't think this time they would take the risk of going through the whole thing of fixing the game, not so soon after the lid has been blown off the whole thing. I think the game would be a straight forward game; of course, India has the advantage that it is playing at home and Bangalore being Srinath's home crowd.''

``Apart from that the Australians are terribly demoralised. What we saw in the hotel... and the other thing is that they were all looking dejected and down in the dumps, so I think India has a good chance of winning.'' When asked what kind of score did he think could be expected, he said, ``they say that the wicket is a good one and should produce runs, let us wait and see.''

Wait and see it will be for today's game and the others to follow. What nobody is willing to wait for is for Indian cricket to become clean. If the reactions of those who came to watch Sunday's match were any indications, then there is overwhelming enthusiasm for the game. Whether cricket is straight forward or not, experts will agree or disagree. But the one straight forward hope among the die-hard fans was that the game was back and that it would stay clean.

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