CLT20 2009, Opening Day : I was fortunate to be there

[Dinx - the Jinx]

sorry guys for disappearing suddenly.. it was 4:am already and I had to goto sleep.. @ Mr. Wicket (regarding facilities) - The stadia scene india has improved a lot.. atleast in the big cities... plenty of vendors available for food/drinks/ice creams etc.. there wont be any separate dining area as such. you need to pick up the stuff and eat wherever you find a place to. you are not going to eat a full 4 course meal.. are you?? so grab a sandwich, burger, a bag of potato chips, glass of coke/pepsi, which are less messy to eat anywhere. even rice items like biriyani/curd rice/bisibele bath etc are served in well packed containers these days.. so.. should not be a problem. only when you decide to get ur hands dirty with chapathis, soacked in gravy.. it becomes a bit messy.. coming to price and quality of vendors available - you get pretty much all kinds, depending upon the stand.. in a premium stand you'll find vendors like subway, yo china, kfc , etc... prices can be 20-30% higher than what you'll get at their outlets, which is fair I guess. in a lowly priced stand, you cant expect such luxuries.. I think so of the guys here have a notion that cricket stadiums do not have options for good food, clumsy eating areas etc. may be os the one of two times they might have sat in some really poor stands and hence the impression. In the last 15-16 years I've covered pretty much al kinds of stand, and I know what to expect in each.. sometimes, you end up going into a lowly priced stand cos thatz the ticket you managed to get in black market (at the price of a premium stand) and no point in complaining about the food/atmosphere in a lowly priced stand. I have seen many people who are the 5 star types, struggling in a D stand or G stand. They would have bought the ticket in black fr 10 times the original price and would have come in expecting 5 star facilities.. well.. whom should we blame in this case??? with careful planning and action, you can avoid all such surprises. if you are person who travel business class, then buy ur tickets for the highly priced stand (well in advance)where you get all the comforts.. why make the mistake of going in the last minute, buying what was available in black paying high price and get crushed among hundres and thousands of others... Now coming to the price of tickets - Although at the outseet, the price in INR sounds way too high for my liking, when I compare that with international prices, I believe ticket prices in India are fairy reasonable.. I'm able to say this because I also had an experience of matching a match in Sydney. The stand that I went to - if t were in Chennai or Blore I would have paid 700 to 1000 bucks. But in Sydney it was sold at $135 (Australian Dollars). So you can figure out.. There wasnt any huge difference that I could see between the facilities in Sydney and the ones I find in Chennai/Blore. Only one good thing about sporting venues in ther countries is they are all built slightly away from the city hence there wont be much chaos in terms of traffic congestion in and around the stadium. Chidambaram and Chinnaswamy are bang in the middle of the city and hence on match days, traffic will be one hell around the venue... however, I need to travel max. 10 kms in Chn/blore to get to the venue, whereas in other countries it could be 30 kms, so it evens up. @ people who want to watch WC This is what is my advice. Even before u think about booking ur flight tickets, first idetify whch match (or matches) you are panning to attend. Most people would like to go to the venue in their city or is closest to their city.. if u r in chandigarh and the match u plan to watch is played in chennai, ask yourself whether you would really wanna travel to chennai for the match or ready to compromise with watching something in mohali itself or nearby jaipur or delhi. once you have decided which match, which venue, try to do a research on the ground in terms of what are thenames of different stands and what positions w.r.to the pitch you'll be sitting, if you go into that stand. remember that stadiums are not cinema halls, where everyone gets to see the same angle (with a difference in class means closer to the screen or farther). how much you are ready to pay pretty much decides what angle you'll get to see. Never go to a stand thats cutting across the pitch i.e mid wicket. its the worst possible view to watch a cricket match. imagine watching an entire match with the view of a run -out camera.. ball will be zooming and you an hardly appreciate the swing, spin and other such aspects. The position that I sat yesterday was also not an ideal oe... but slightly better. the best one is this.. this exactly behind the sight screen. this iswhere I sat and watched the entire length of Ind/Aus test match in Oct 08. This view is usually the most expensive.. but the best view in the ground.. usually this will be on the north or south end of the ground, so you are pretty much saved from direct sunlight. If you end up in the cheaper mid wicket area stands.. you'll get the direct sun light, either in the morning or in the evening. you cant escape.. even when there is roof, you'll still have to endure this... And if you are the 5 star types who want Gold class treatment like in cinema halls, you'll have buy nothing less than a pavilion stand/members stand. many a times these tickets are not issued to the public. you need to know someone from the cricket association or in the corporate circles to get hold of these passes. and in cases where they are sold for cash, expect to pay anywhere between 5k to 10k... for 1 seating one a r se that is...

[Cricketics]

Man Dinakkar Top Class post.. Kool. I want to be in India.