Mohali test match: Any ICF'ers attending the game?

[Indus_Army]

Hi All, After a great test match at the Chepauk, I'm sure everyone's looking forward to another keen contest at Mohali. Are any of you ICF'ers heading out to Mohali to watch the 2nd test match? It would be nice to have a sizable bunch together. The majority of the folks have been put off due to the expenses, time and holidays required for the travel from Bangalore to Mohali, accommodation etc. If you are heading out, do post here and we can aim to get seated in the same stand. As of now, the VIP block is the only stand open to the non-student general public, that offers a decent view. The chair blocks are square of the wicket, but might attract a bigger crowd since it costs Rs 200 for a season ticket - 300 bucks lower than the VIP block. I was told by the PCA last evening that only 80 VIP block tickets have been sold thus far. If there are people here, who have been to a game at Mohali and can throw some light about the blocks with the best atmosphere, I would greatly appreciate it. Hope to see some of you there, Indus Army :isalute::isalute::isalute:

[Dinx - the Jinx]

Dude.. most ICFers can only talk. They wont take the time, effort and pain to go watch a match at the stadium. Most think that watching it on TV and reading newspaper, website columns and then discussing at forums make them great cricket fans. For me, its those who throng the stadiums, brave the heat, stretch the muscles and joints to support the team that are true fans. I hardly found any in this forum. Instead they will complain about the long queues, inadequate facilities, sun etc etc as excuses for not going. Dont trust me??? - Read marirs_mania's post in a thread elsewhere. He who considers himself as a biggest cricket fan, inspite of being in Chennai for holidays, refused to goto the stadium, cos you know what??? he doesnt like crowd... Anyways... coming to the topic - i wud have surely given some inputs had it been chn or blr. pca - dnt hve a clue. just returned from chennai after witnessing the greatest ever run chase... feeling pretty ecstatic at the moment. one word of advice, dont limit yourself to watching only a select 2 or 3 days. Go for all 5 days, cos you dont know which day or session will have the bestest of best performance. A friend of mine came with me on saturday and sunday. And he missed yesterdays action, cos he dint plan in advance to take a holiday. Its a pity. So, dont do that mistake. Also dont hesitate to shell out a few hundred bucks extra. After all test match watching experience is like a pilgrimage that you take once a year. So go and enjoy yourself. you've mentioned that a season ticket for a stand that offers good view is just 500. Dude.. thats 100 per day and its pretty cheap. In Chennai or Bangalore you have to shell out anywhere between 1200 and 3000 for season ticket to such a stand. Lastly, I recommend you to sit next to the Barmy Army. It was wonderful fun sitting with them and enjoying their songs and jokes. Over here, I made friends with a few people, one of them being Paul Winslow who is the leader of the Barmy Army and writes on cricinfo blogs. They are quite nice people and make them feel at home. My advice is dont get a season ticket. Go for daily tickets. On the first day find out where they are seated and from 2nd day onwards go to that stand. Wish you all the best and have fun dude... Will catch you on TV (another incentive for sitting with Barmy Army is you will come on TV often)

[Rajan]

Indus Army, a sincere request. PLZ PLZ arrange a 6 x 20 cloth banner and paint with- ICF details in at least 4 feet high letters. something that encourages more fans to join ICF.surely u will get 10-15 seconds camera coverage and who knows a large number of fans may check out ICF. I did not get enough time to do that myself when i went for the one dayer last month in bangalore.give it a try. u can tie the banner some where along with the barmy-army banners.

[Rajan]

Dinakkar, i am sure u have made your point, why are you posting it again and again? or is it a problem with your browser? any way, i was one of those unfortunate fans who decided to watch the match in bangalore insted of enjoying the comfort of my home.i was sitting in the D stand, corporate box when it rained again and again.the match was made interesting thanks to D/L and we won but it took eternity to re start twice.chairs were wet. the food served was not good and they did not allow food to be brought in. it was mid night when i went home.there r some obvious difficulties and for people like me who rely on re-plays, the Screen in the stadium was not showing replays during 3 rd umpire decisions. i missed the comments too.u cant blame fans sitting at home and watching especially if the climate is hot.BCCI does not offer good facilities for paying spectators. there was around 9 security check, believe me( before the terror attack). they did not even allow me to take the stick along with the flag. they just removed the stick.how do u wave the flag with out the stick?

[Shane]

Indus Army, a sincere request. PLZ PLZ arrange a 6 x 20 cloth banner and paint with- ICF details in at least 4 feet high letters. something that encourages more fans to join ICF.surely u will get 10-15 seconds camera coverage and who knows a large number of fans may check out ICF. I did not get enough time to do that myself when i went for the one dayer last month in bangalore.give it a try. u can tie the banner some where along with the barmy-army banners.

Get the ICF and Neo Sports banners together in one, there you might get some sweet footage !!!

[Cricketics]

Dinakkar, most of the members who are active on this site are not living in India. Not everyone is lucky like you who can take out the car from garage and drive down to the stadium in 15-30 mins.. i bet there is more enthusiasm among people living overseas, then people living in India... hence you see more Indians turning up for test matches overseas, then people turning up in India. it's just that most of the members here are living abroad

[Online]

tics is spot on!

[Shane]

Dude.. most ICFers can only talk. They wont take the time, effort and pain to go watch a match at the stadium. Most think that watching it on TV and reading newspaper, website columns and then discussing at forums make them great cricket fans. For me, its those who throng the stadiums, brave the heat, stretch the muscles and joints to support the team that are true fans. I hardly found any in this forum. Instead they will complain about the long queues, inadequate facilities, sun etc etc as excuses for not going. Dont trust me??? - Read marirs_mania's post in a thread elsewhere. He who considers himself as a biggest cricket fan, inspite of being in Chennai for holidays, refused to goto the stadium, cos you know what??? he doesnt like crowd... Anyways... coming to the topic - i wud have surely given some inputs had it been chn or blr. pca - dnt hve a clue. just returned from chennai after witnessing the greatest ever run chase... feeling pretty ecstatic at the moment. one word of advice, dont limit yourself to watching only a select 2 or 3 days. Go for all 5 days, cos you dont know which day or session will have the bestest of best performance. A friend of mine came with me on saturday and sunday. And he missed yesterdays action, cos he dint plan in advance to take a holiday. Its a pity. So, dont do that mistake. Also dont hesitate to shell out a few hundred bucks extra. After all test match watching experience is like a pilgrimage that you take once a year. So go and enjoy yourself. you've mentioned that a season ticket for a stand that offers good view is just 500. Dude.. thats 100 per day and its pretty cheap. In Chennai or Bangalore you have to shell out anywhere between 1200 and 3000 for season ticket to such a stand. Lastly, I recommend you to sit next to the Barmy Army. It was wonderful fun sitting with them and enjoying their songs and jokes. Over here, I made friends with a few people, one of them being Paul Winslow who is the leader of the Barmy Army and writes on cricinfo blogs. They are quite nice people and make them feel at home. My advice is dont get a season ticket. Go for daily tickets. On the first day find out where they are seated and from 2nd day onwards go to that stand. Wish you all the best and have fun dude... Will catch you on TV (another incentive for sitting with Barmy Army is you will come on TV often)

I am from Mumbai, caught 4/7 of the IPL games, and they were during my sem 6 xams ... and am eagerly waitin for one !!! Tics has made a very valid point of most of the ICFers around, imagine an Ind v/s Aus game at Melbourne, i guess Desi would be the first one in queue, not before Donny though !!! By the way where is the Don, might see him tomm !!!

[Sachinism]

Dinakkar, most of the members who are active on this site are not living in India. Not everyone is lucky like you who can take out the car from garage and drive down to the stadium in 15-30 mins.. i bet there is more enthusiasm among people living overseas, then people living in India... hence you see more Indians turning up for test matches overseas, then people turning up in India. it's just that most of the members here are living abroad

Thank you, I was just going to post the same Whenever India tour England, I make the effort to go see them. Anyways Indus, do hold up a sign Possibly something like "A Big Thank You to England For Coming Back For The Cricket - Indus Army in association with IndianCricketFans.com" :two_thumbs_up:

[Online]

^^^ I bet a million ICF $ that Indus Army will not hold up any such sign or any banner related to ICF. They are just all talk.

[Sachinism]

^^ Is it, don't really know much about them What ever happened to Bharat Army, one of their main people used to play for my cricket club, he left a few years back, haven't really heard much about them since

[Indus_Army]

Dude.. most ICFers can only talk. They wont take the time, effort and pain to go watch a match at the stadium. Most think that watching it on TV and reading newspaper, website columns and then discussing at forums make them great cricket fans....

Dinakkar, Each individual has a different preference when it comes to following Team India. I'm of the kind, who loves to watch games in the stadium and when I can't attend a game, I'm glued to the TV. Some of the ardent fans that I know have a false notion/mental block that watching cricket in a stadium is all about missing crucial moments, that they wouldn't otherwise in their living rooms. As for facilities at the Indian grounds, it doesn't bother me. For one who used to spend the nights in the queues on Cubbon road along with fellow desperate fans, to buy the tickets the following morning, the gallery is also ok as long as the action in the center is good. That said, the last time I was at a game in B'lore, the food was excellent on all 5 days and they also let us take in our musical instruments without much fuss.

you've mentioned that a season ticket for a stand that offers good view is just 500. Dude.. thats 100 per day and its pretty cheap. In Chennai or Bangalore you have to shell out anywhere between 1200 and 3000 for season ticket to such a stand.

You lost me there. Please read my post again. I'm worried that the VIP block might have no crowd/atmosphere since only 80 tickets were sold as of last evening (I called up the PCA and was informed as such.). The cheaper chairs block might actually have more people in there and most likely a better atmosphere. I already am spending a decent sum on flying out to Delhi, accommodation in Chandigarh etc...all to watch this game. So, the Rs 300 difference is negligible. I arrived in India only on Sunday night...if it was a couple of days earlier, I would have been in Stand D at Chepauk. Congrats on being part of a memorable game!

[Indus_Army]

Rajan I PM'd you a few hours ago. Please PM me back.

^^^ I bet a million ICF $ that Indus Army will not hold up any such sign or any banner related to ICF. They are just all talk.

That's an unfortunate and baseless comment. Read this: http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=286327&postcount=52 My affiliation to ICF back then was close to zilch. I registered only a day or two prior to the the Ind-Pak test match, but still honoured a few requests from here and added the weblink of ICF to a few of the slogan banners. When you throw in the time spent in actively watching the game, slogan chanting, music etc during the day, you work out the probability of a slogan with ICF on it being picked up on TV, when practically every third Tom, Dick & Hari amongst the 50,000 in the stadium come in with a placard. It's all down to being in the right place at the right time.

[punjabi_khota]

Hi All, After a great test match at the Chepauk, I'm sure everyone's looking forward to another keen contest at Mohali. Are any of you ICF'ers heading out to Mohali to watch the 2nd test match? It would be nice to have a sizable bunch together. The majority of the folks have been put off due to the expenses, time and holidays required for the travel from Bangalore to Mohali, accommodation etc. If you are heading out, do post here and we can aim to get seated in the same stand. As of now, the VIP block is the only stand open to the non-student general public, that offers a decent view. The chair blocks are square of the wicket, but might attract a bigger crowd since it costs Rs 200 for a season ticket - 300 bucks lower than the VIP block. I was told by the PCA last evening that only 80 VIP block tickets have been sold thus far. If there are people here, who have been to a game at Mohali and can throw some light about the blocks with the best atmosphere, I would greatly appreciate it. Hope to see some of you there, Indus Army :isalute::isalute::isalute:

Yaar I have seen a test match and 3 ODIS in PCA but it was all atleast 7 years ago..I don't remember ****. Except that there were some hot chicks around. The test match I saw was India England December 2001, and we sitting in the very first/second row in the near midwicket region. Once advice I can give you is that look out for which block has English supporters, they are very fun. One guy had his long ass tripod-binocular/telescope thingie out all day. He would get tired of watching through it, and let us watch in the meantime. It was fun!!!

[Sachinism]

Yaar I have seen a test match and 3 ODIS in PCA but it was all atleast 7 years ago..I don't remember ****. Except that there were some hot chicks around. The test match I saw was India England December 2001' date=' and we sitting in the very first/second row in the near midwicket region. Once advice I can give you is that look out for which block has English supporters, they are very fun. One guy had his long ass tripod-binocular/telescope thingie out all day. He would get tired of watching through it, and let us watch in the meantime. It was fun!!![/quote'] Yup English fans are a good laugh

[Online]

Rajan I PM'd you a few hours ago. Please PM me back. That's an unfortunate and baseless comment. Read this: http://www.indiancricketfans.com/showpost.php?p=286327&postcount=52 My affiliation to ICF back then was close to zilch. I registered only a day or two prior to the the Ind-Pak test match, but still honoured a few requests from here and added the weblink of ICF to a few of the slogan banners. When you throw in the time spent in actively watching the game, slogan chanting, music etc during the day, you work out the probability of a slogan with ICF on it being picked up on TV, when practically every third Tom, Dick & Hari amongst the 50,000 in the stadium come in with a placard. It's all down to being in the right place at the right time.

I was trying to instigate you into putting up a banner. Thanks for your good work! I will give you a million ICF $ if your banner with ICF on it is shown on TV.

[Rajan]

Rajan I PM'd you a few hours ago. Please PM me back. IA, i checked the PM a bit late. replied. Thanks.

[Indus_Army]

The trip to Mohali was great. Off the field, the start was worse than the on-field start. Despite prior phone calls and re-assurances (from Harminder Sikhon, the head of the ticketing committee at the PCA) about ticket availability at the stadium, there were no ticket booths at the stadium. After passing through a couple of check-posts and arriving at the gate just a few minutes before the scheduled start, we were told to go to a bank about 3km away to buy the tickets. The bank was scheduled to open only at 10am, 30mins after the start of the game! Poor planning by the PCA. Thanks to the delayed start, we missed out on only about 6 overs of our innings. There was also some time spent in convincing the cops that the musical instruments were harmless - a punjabi bangalorean amongst us helped our case. The cops made us play the instruments just in case. Much to our delight, the VIP block had a couple of familiar figures - Sudheer(the Tendulkar-10 fan), whom we know from the past and a Mohali local, who studies in B'lore and had joined the Indus Army during the recent Ind-Aus test match. Most of the Barmy Army boys were in the VIP stand as well. An hour of music & chants later, the TV crew hurriedly put a crowd mike in front of our stand. The PCA stadium is very pleasant & reminded me a lot of Brum. The first day especially witnessed great duels between the Barmies and us in the volume stakes. That was good fun. Inevitably, there was Bhangra in the stands and at one point, probably about 90% of the people in our stand were crammed into our corner. The stadium was quite empty and our shouts from the sidelines could be easily heard in the middle. Some of our Kannada shouts to Dravid "Chenagadthidya Rahul", "Hange aadu Rahul" were picked up and repeated by the friendly locals."Bolo So ne haal" elicited a voice from almost every desi in the crowd. From the second day onwards, the cops (for reasons best known to them) did not allow the slogan shouters and most of our group to head to the right half of the stand, where the english group were seated. Another case of the cops playing spoilsport and I'm sure the english supporters would have missed the good natured competition. The cricket was good. Though Dravid was understandably slow on the first day, GG's controlled aggression was pleasing. The session#1 on day#2 and the KP-Freddie show was great to watch. Those two partnerships basically set the tone towards achieving a result. Personally, the high point of the game really was Bell's wicket - a fast bowler's delight and a gentle reminder about India's growing fast bowling prowess! The banter between the players was obvious from the sidelines, though we made more sense of it whilst checking it out during the evening's highlights. England definitely missed a reliable bowler like Hoggard on this pitch. Broad looked listless and didn't seem to be running in with a lot of energy. Broad came up for special treatment from the crowd as he strolled down to field at fine leg. The shouts of "Yuvraj, Yuvraj" were spontaneous. When it all died down, Broad was advised to get in touch with Trescothick's psychiatrist to get over the bashing by Yuvraj. Nevertheless, a good show by the visitors, given the lack of proper preparation ahead of the test matches. It was heart warming to see their supporters make the trip to Mohali - one of them was on a wheelchair. I love that spirit!:hatsoff: Chandigarh's a nice place and worth visiting - though we didn't find time to do any sightseeing :-(. The lounge at Himani's was a laidback place to relax the bones and lungs after the day's cricket. Security within the city was not heavy, especially near our hotel, where a lot of the visiting fans stayed as well. An enthusiastic local dude, who met us on day#1 decided to skip his night-shift work that evening to party with us and let his manager know that he's out of town. The only slight problem was that this guy was shown on TV many times on day#1 and day#2 and also received SMS's from his colleagues about it! A classic case of being "Golmaal'd":cantstop: In a not so pleasant case of Golmaal: Whilst playing the Bugle on the second day during the GG-RD partnership, my wallet was pulled out of my backpack and robbed of the INR and foreign currency in it - worth about Rs7000 in all. The wallet was thrown a few seats away with the credit cards thankfully still intact. This incident unfortunately was a downer... We did hold up a placard thanking England with Indus Army & the ICF weblink written underneath. Since there hasn't been a bump to this thread, I take it that it was not shown on TV. Additionally, we spent a day in Delhi prior to the game and had a glimpse of the Ferozeshah Kotla from outside...would love to watch a game there. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves and the trip was worth it. A couple of the boys were also on NeoCricket's Tour diary show. Despite having mentally set ourselves since the last 4-5 months for a trip to the historical Brabourne stadium, the change in itinerary and the subsequent longer trip to Mohali was worthwhile. With the kind of attitude displayed during this tour, England has earned the right to a five test series, when they return in a few years time. I hope they are rewarded with games at the top venues in the country.

[Indus_Army]

Yaar I have seen a test match and 3 ODIS in PCA but it was all atleast 7 years ago..I don't remember ****. Except that there were some hot chicks around. The test match I saw was India England December 2001' date=' and we sitting in the very first/second row in the near midwicket region. Once advice I can give you is that look out for which block has English supporters, they are very fun. One guy had his long ass tripod-binocular/telescope thingie out all day. He would get tired of watching through it, and let us watch in the meantime. It was fun!!![/quote'] PK Thanks for the inputs. Our trip was really nice. The Chandigarh folks are so lucky. Both Mohali and Panchkula are next door. With tests, ODIs, ICL & IPL amongst the options, it's a dream location for a cricket fanatic!