Kracking Kotla

[Gambit]

As an afterthought, I decided to go to Kotla yesterday with a friend. I didn't have tickets. I reached the stadium about 15 mins after the game had started. We were looking for shifty eyed people who looked like touts but instead every third person was asking me if I had tickets to sell. One sardarjee put up a poster asking for a ticket but Delhi Police soon brought that down. Tired with all the waiting, I was standing in a corner when a guy came and stood next to me and asked if I needed tickets. Bought two tickets from that guy at more than thrice the price but I was too desperate to complain or bargain. I reached inside around the 25 over mark and within 5 mins both Ponting and White were dismissed. The crowd was jumping and making a lot of noise. But they were very appreciative of the Australian batting too. Hussey was roundly applauded when he reached his 50 and everyone stood on their feet and clapped when he hit that humongous six off Nehra. Bhajji is massively popular. Everyone time he came to the boundary, people started chanting his name, doing the 'Jo bole so nihal'/'Waheguru da khalsa' routine. He always waved and smiled. Aircel were running a promo where you could sms a message to either team and it would be displayed on the big screen.Some good ones were - 'Dho Viru Dho', 'We want the Foster hotties back' and 'Yuvi please hit a six in the Tata Stand.' Crowd really got pumped when SRT cracked two boundaries in the first over but were applauding the good Australian fielding as well. I thought we would struggle after Gambhir was dismissed but Yuvi and Dhoni were terrific. Yuvi is so loved it's unbelievable. Kotla is a very good ground and the facilities(food/toilets) were quite decent. I was in the Rs.500 stand and that's the cheapest ticket you can buy. The cops were also very prompt in removing some idiots who were drunk and those who were hurling things in front. My feet were killing me though as I jumped and danced like crazy for nearly 6 hours. Not the best preparation for a 21 km marathon though, which I did manage to complete today. B->

[Gambit]

And whoever designed the groundstaff jump suits is a genius. It resembles the Pakistani kit. When the groundstaff were doing jhadu and cleaning the pitch, crowd was joking that since Pakis hardly play, this is what they do for a living. :D

[Sachinism]

Great stuff :two_thumbs_up: No love for Dhoni? I can't believe you paid 3x the price even after 1/4 of the match was gone

And whoever designed the groundstaff jump suits is a genius. It resembles the Pakistani kit. When the groundstaff were doing jhadu and cleaning the pitch' date=' crowd was joking that since Pakis hardly play, this is what they do for a living. :D[/quote'] :hysterical:

[Shane]

Nice account of the match Gambo :two_thumbs_up: Was in a similar situation during the IPL, we had finished our Externals at 4 00, decided to give it a shot, reached there at 5 15, found oursleves wandering for a source when suddenly a guy popped up desperate to sell his three tickets, we sensed the desperation and got our tickets for its value (without a hike). MI thumped RR that night. :D Having said that even if he would have hiked the price, I think would have been very difficult to refuse, coz the disappointment of missing the game and returning home, would have been far too much. PJ knows a thing or two about Match Tickets and their Sales. :D

[Dinx - the Jinx]

As an afterthought' date=' I decided to go to Kotla yesterday with a friend. I didn't have tickets. I reached the stadium about 15 mins after the game had started. We were looking for shifty eyed people who looked like touts but instead every third person was asking me if I had tickets to sell. One sardarjee put up a poster asking for a ticket but Delhi Police soon brought that down. Tired with all the waiting, I was standing in a corner when a guy came and stood next to me and asked if I needed tickets. [b']Bought two tickets from that guy at more than thrice the price but I was too desperate to complain or bargain. I reached inside around the 25 over and within 5 mins both Ponting and White were dismissed. The crowd was jumping and making a lot of noise. But they were very appreciate of the Australian batting too. Hussey was roundly applauded when he reached his 50 and everyone stood on their feet and clapped when he hit that humongous six off Nehra. Bhajji is massively popular. Everyone time he came to the boundary, people started chanting his name, doing the 'Jo bole so nihal'/'Waheguru da khalsa' routine. He always waved and smiled. Aircel were running a promo where you could sms a message to either team and it would be displayed on the big screen.Some good ones were - 'Dho Viru Dho', 'We want the Foster hotties back' and 'Yuvi please hit a six in the Tata Stand.' Crowd really got pumped when SRT cracked two boundaries in the first over but were applauding the good Australian fielding as well. I thought we would struggle after Gambhir was dismissed but Yuvi and Dhoni were terrific. Yuvi is so loved it's unbelievable. Kotla is a very good ground and the facilities(food/toilets) were quite decent. I was in the Rs.500 stand and that's the cheapest ticket you can buy. The cops were also very prompt in removing some idiots who were drunk and those who were hurling things in front. My feet were killing me though as I jumped and danced like crazy for nearly 6 hours. Not the best preparation for a 21 km marathon though, which I did manage to complete today. B-> I'll add some pictures later.

Thanks Gambo for the post... the most frustrating experience is standing just outside the stadium when the match is on and waiting to come across a person who would sell you a ticket.. The noise that resonates from inside the stadium will make you feel for a moment that you are ready to sell your head for a ticket to go inside... amazing feeling that is... i once bought a ticket for double the price during lunch time.. this bloke has already seen the first half and sold the ticket to me when he came out for lunch.. but who cares...:--D is far greater than

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

nice. watching an ODI in india is an unbelievable experience and kotla appears to be one of the better stadiums in the country. were the tickets oversold? there seemed to be plenty of people sitting at the exit points ... and other places whjere spectators aren't meant to be seated.

[Guest Hiten.]

Guys, don't forget Gambit will share the pics like he did when he went to one of the CL games :giggle:. Man some of you guys are so lucky that you can just show up at the ground without any preplans and yet to manage to watch the game. For NRI's, it takes years of planning if we have to watch the Indian team in action :((. How I wish, I could move back to swades :isalute:

[Params7]

Here's pics from someone on PC who also went to the game : Lucky people =|

[coffee_rules]

Thrice the price of ticket? How much was it? For India-Pak QF in 1996 I had paid 800 rs (not black) for a decent seat.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

^^ he got a 500 ticket for thrice the face value. 500 * 3 = 1500.. simple :dontknow:

[Jersey #10]

man you paid three times the ticket? :omg: You must be one of the huge fans of Indian cricket :clap:

[Dinx - the Jinx]

man you paid three times the ticket? :omg: You must be one of the huge fans of Indian cricket :clap:

its h ard to believe that u wont spend 1500 bucks once a year to watch india play.. if u r living in states its only 30 dollars or so isnt it? and u call that expensive? how much does a ticket to one of the baseball games cost there?

[Dirty_South]

money is not the imp factor here...Fun is !

[Holysmoke]

I just bought tickets for the Mumbai game :D EDIT - Gambo, were you allowed to take your cellphone inside?

[Dinx - the Jinx]

money is not the imp factor here...Fun is !

exactly.. knowing very well that an international game comes to my city only once in a year or two, i'm always prepared to shell out an extra few bucks for the pure delight of watching india play.. spending on IPL is something different.. but when it comes to Team India g ames, there is no second thoughts

[Cricketics]

Gambit n Dinakkar, can you please write about the restrictions in Indian grounds??? Like things which we are allowed to take and not. Holysmoke was asking above if Gambit was allowed to take cell phone. They have restrictions on cameras too??

[Cricketics]

Here's pics from someone on PC who also went to the game :

Param dude, nice pictures.. Thanks for sharing.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

Gambit n Dinakkar, can you please write about the restrictions in Indian grounds??? Like things which we are allowed to take and not. Holysmoke was asking above if Gambit was allowed to take cell phone. They have restrictions on cameras too??

ok.. What is allowed Cell phones are definitely allowed.. they were disallowed only in the first few years of cell phone when very few ppl were using it. now almost everybody uses cellphone and they dont bother anymore with the cellphones. Cameras are also allowed. Sometimes you may bump into some nut case policeman who will act smart.. but dont give up. Justify ur need to t ake the camera inside and make a scene. eventually they will allow... Now what is not allowed Glass bottles Fire Crackers Tiffin boxes. If you want to carry food items, carry it in polythene bags. Or dont even bother to carry any food/drinks. you get everything in the stands The flag pole.. they will ask you to throw away the pole and let u carry the flag alone.. but during IPL and CL, they themselves will give u a flag (with pole) for free and ask you to carry inside and wave.. lolz.. Cigarettes / Match box (But I have techniques to smuggle them inside and have been successful everytime.. if you want to know the trick, PM me and be ready to doonate a huge sum of $ICF) Alcohol. And finally Condoms :--D. you're not supposed to do any mischief 50-50 i.e sometimes in some stands they are allowed and sometimes not Placards and Chart papers/pens (the theory is that during the late 90s, the Kolkatta fans used to burn those papers and hold them as victory torch when India inches close to victory.. so they started banning these items. But offlate I had been carrying them without any problem) Musical instruments like small drums, pipes

[DomainK]

:two_thumbs_up:Superb.

[Cricketics]

Good post Ramdin. As long as Camera is allowed, it's all good to me.