Wankhede Crowd is testament to what test cricket in India could look like

[Dinx - the Jinx]

4 hours ago, Cricketics said:

As you have visited many, you could be right but the point of this thread is not to talk crap about other grounds or put the other grounds below Wankhede.  None of that is mentioned in OP. It was just to praise the Wankhede which I felt. You do not have to take offence if you do not like it my opinion.

 

I feel Wankhede is more special place than some of the other grounds in India and that is it. It is to me the Home of Cricket in India and hence I want it to host a Test Match every year. 

 

I have no bias for Bombay. I have never lived there or have any family down there. I have nothing to do with Bombay. I saw the game and have been seeing for a while and I commented. To me, Bombay crowd is more in the game, syncs with the proper moments, even when someone is talking on the mic etc. 

 

 

No offence mate. Just pull out some old videos from youtube involving matches India won in Eden Gardens in the 90s and early 2000s. 

Have you been to Wankhade in person and sat in the stands? Or your opinion is based on what you saw on TV? Then wait and see the crowd behaviour in Chennai. 

Wankhade stadium is neither the best stadium in India nor its crowd. Its a good ground with a lot of history attached to it - so is Eden Gardens and MA Chidambaram and Feroz Shah Kotla. All these 4 venues are steeped in history. And if we have to pick one of them to top the group, then it would be Eden Gardens and not Wankhade. We have to make all 4 as regular venues every year - like in Australia where they have SCG, MCG, Adelaide, Brisbane - and rotate the remaining matches of that year among the other venues - like Hobart, Canberra

 

[punjabi_khota]

>regardless of how much discomfort you felt when you were comfortably able to lay down there in stands at Wankhede. 

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by punjabi_khota

[Cricketics]

18 minutes ago, punjabi_khota said:

>regardless of how much discomfort you felt when you were comfortably able to lay down there in stands at Wankhede. 

 

Woh bot chik chik kar raha tha badi der se lol hahah

[Cricketics]

37 minutes ago, Dinx - the Jinx said:

No offence mate. Just pull out some old videos from youtube involving matches India won in Eden Gardens in the 90s and early 2000s. 

Have you been to Wankhade in person and sat in the stands? Or your opinion is based on what you saw on TV? Then wait and see the crowd behaviour in Chennai. 

Wankhade stadium is neither the best stadium in India nor its crowd. Its a good ground with a lot of history attached to it - so is Eden Gardens and MA Chidambaram and Feroz Shah Kotla. All these 4 venues are steeped in history. And if we have to pick one of them to top the group, then it would be Eden Gardens and not Wankhade. We have to make all 4 as regular venues every year - like in Australia where they have SCG, MCG, Adelaide, Brisbane - and rotate the remaining matches of that year among the other venues - like Hobart, Canberra

 

Dude, you said it yourself now. Back in 90s and 2000s, surely all test grounds had amazing atmosphere and Eden was the best among all. Even I was mesmerized by the 2001 series crowd and atmosphere of Kolkata, but the clock has turned. This is 15 years later and Test Cricket is not the same any more. It is not as popular any more and in none of the places it gets the same crowd as it used to. Eden surely was no.1 before uptill very recently, but I am not sure if it is same. I feel Wankhede is just more vocal and the crowd there participates more and syncs with some epic moments when they are happening.

 

No I have not been to Wankhede but can watch on TV and feel more connection with Mumbai crowd right now than any in India. Before I could with Eden too as you pointed out that it was great in late 90s. 

 

I have been to a packed house at Kotla for Kumble test match where he took 10fer. If my memory is correct, that was the last ever test match I watched in India before leaving the country few years later. The crowd then is nothing to what it gets today anywhere in India. No, it wasn't just because it was Indo-pak, I saw even other test matches in Delhi and crowd was packed even during 1996 one off test too when Mongia hit 150, I was very young but remember how packed it was.

 

Similarly, many grounds in India saw decline in crowd. Bombay too saw decline, but still that vibe, noise, is perhaps better created by that Mumbai crowd I feel which takes me back to the 90s when i watched the game at the stadium. The game looks more watchable on TV when they have Mumbai hosting a test. 

 

There is a reason why whole Barmy Army supporters come in bog numbers to Bombay, as compared to other venues. Everyone likes to attend The Bombay test match. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cricketics]

41 minutes ago, Dinx - the Jinx said:

 

Wankhade stadium is neither the best stadium in India nor its crowd. Its a good ground with a lot of history attached to it - so is Eden Gardens and MA Chidambaram and Feroz Shah Kotla. All these 4 venues are steeped in history. And if we have to pick one of them to top the group, then it would be Eden Gardens and not Wankhade. We have to make all 4 as regular venues every year - like in Australia where they have SCG, MCG, Adelaide, Brisbane - and rotate the remaining matches of that year among the other venues - like Hobart, Canberra

 

And I am all for making those test centers as you mentioned,the major test hosting grounds along with giving an odd test to other places.  

 

 

[Forever Indian]

2 minutes ago, Viper said:

https://youtu.be/jLK2A2lON-4

 

 

Best crowd ever

Lol, very unsportive of the crowd!

 

Chennai has the most sportive crowd and Kolkata the least sportive for International matches.

[Cricketics]

^^There will be group of fans pretty much everywhere who would talk shyt about players and boo like they did in the above video and when Sachin got booed.

 

Doesn't mean we generalize. Have you ever been to Bay 13 at MCG? It is the Most challenging section for players to deal from around the world. MCG crowd is the best crowd always but BAy13 crowd will always talk shyt to players etc and would even poke fun at them. But then not all are like that. Some will actually start exercising with players etc and will have funny conversatiom with players.

Most will even talk crap up front to players. 

 

Doesn't mean rest of the crowd sucks. 

 

 

[Dinx - the Jinx]

In terms of Crowd behavior - Chennai has to be at the top of the tree. Even in the late 90s and early 2000s when bottle throwing and paper torches were prevalent across all Indian stadiums, there has not been any such incidence in Chennai. Even Bangalore had one instance where play was stopped when Azharuddin was wrongly given out lbw in an ODI. 

In contrast, Chennai crowd always respects their own players as well as opposition - even if that happens to be Padosis. Evidence - Saeed Anwar 194*, 1999 standing ovation for Pakistani lap of honour.

Coming to Mumbai crowd - in the recently concluded test, there was booing every time Ben Stokes came on to bowl or bat. For no reason they were chanting stuff like 'Phenk do Phenk do - Ben Stokes ko phenk do' which was quite unnecessary because Ben Stokes did nothing in this test to provoke that kind of response from the crowd. So yea... Mumbai has its own bad apples when it comes to crowd behavior.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

1 hour ago, Cricketics said:

^^There will be group of fans pretty much everywhere who would talk shyt about players

 

 

Not really. You cannot find such elements anywhere in the stadium in Chennai. Any stand you go. Not just the stadium, across Chennai and Tamil Nadu, when people talk about cricket and cricketers there is always RESPECT. No bad words - BC, MC etc are not in their dictionary. 

[Cricketics]

48 minutes ago, Dinx - the Jinx said:

Not really. You cannot find such elements anywhere in the stadium in Chennai. Any stand you go. Not just the stadium, across Chennai and Tamil Nadu, when people talk about cricket and cricketers there is always RESPECT. No bad words - BC, MC etc are not in their dictionary. 

Well I haven't been to Chennai and neither at their stadium to talk about the xperiemce and behavour of the people inside the stadium. I know Mumbai fans can be rowdy like i mentioned earlier about booing Tendulkar etc but that still doesn't take away that the coverage looks more watchable on tv.

 

Anways, whats your take on Chennai not having the three stands available. It is atrotious to have a game there when some of the stands are not available and it has been a while now since it came to notice and nothing seems to have been going on. 

 

I doubt it can create similar atmosphere to Wankhede. I hope it does but it is pathetic to have those stands still not available. 

[randomGuy]

On 12/12/2016 at 11:01 AM, narenpande1 said:

Not saying this because I am a Mumbaikar,Wankhede has the most patriotic home team supporters in India.

 

In Eden Gardens for example, there was a match where Ganguly was dropped and the crowd supported the opposition team ... would you believe it !!!

 

You would not find this from the Wankhede crowd. It's all about supporting India for them 

Delhi crowd backs the team like anything (more than any other crowd imho) in LoIs esp..,they are boost the team till the end...have seen a few lost matches turned into wins in Delhi.

 

they may not turn up for test cricket though.

[Cricketics]

Yeah and what is this with being the  good boys and being nice to padosis when Anwar scored etc. I am fine with giving standing ovation for someone who performed etc but calling that as sportsmanship etc is all bull. It is a culture to recognize the top performance in cricket all over the world. That isn't something to be proud of. And it doesn't make one the good guys.

 

Why try to be the good guys anyway? I am not saying curse the opposition but it is good to get under their skin. Go to some tennis games and see what happens there at US Open and Australian Open when an Aussie plays an opponent at home or if John Isner or recently Jack Sock(Top American) is playing at the US Open. People try get under opponent's skin and put pressure on him.

 

I remember when we did  the"Aaloo Aaloo" chants during the Kumble 10fer test match at Kotla. Inzi became angry at us but Akram controlled him. That got to Inzi's mind. He was once about to approach someone during the Lunch break but Akram took him elsewhere. Inzi was standing at long off and Akram called him immediately back and replaced him with Youhana as Inzi looked distracted and wanted to talk to one of the guys one on one. 

[Vilander]

whanked stadium..whank ed. lol.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

3 hours ago, Cricketics said:

Yeah and what is this with being the  good boys and being nice to padosis when Anwar scored etc. I am fine with giving standing ovation for someone who performed etc but calling that as sportsmanship etc is all bull. It is a culture to recognize the top performance in cricket all over the world. That isn't something to be proud of. And it doesn't make one the good guys.

 

Why try to be the good guys anyway? I am not saying curse the opposition but it is good to get under their skin. Go to some tennis games and see what happens there at US Open and Australian Open when an Aussie plays an opponent at home or if John Isner or recently Jack Sock(Top American) is playing at the US Open. People try get under opponent's skin and put pressure on him.

 

I remember when we did  the"Aaloo Aaloo" chants during the Kumble 10fer test match at Kotla. Inzi became angry at us but Akram controlled him. That got to Inzi's mind. He was once about to approach someone during the Lunch break but Akram took him elsewhere. Inzi was standing at long off and Akram called him immediately back and replaced him with Youhana as Inzi looked distracted and wanted to talk to one of the guys one on one. 

That sort of behavior by the crowd is not good. Again its my opinion. You can get behind your team by encouraging slogans like 'Jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega' rather than 'Harega bhai harege Pakistan harege'. Off late, I have been seeing Virat Kohli encouraging the crowd to get behind the team with their clappings. He is definitely not in his sane mind, going to ask them to insult or disgrace the opponent. Like the Aloo chant.

Yes, i agree that Chennai crowd need not necessarily applaud the opposition. But the crowd behavior is measured by those gestures and since you brought out a point in one of the posts that 'there are bad boys in every stadium' I wanted to tell you that its not the case with Chennai as I have personally watched several matches there and I know the truth. They dont know to curse, they dont knoe to get under the skin. They are like the Dravids and Laxmans.

[Vilander]

7 minutes ago, Dinx - the Jinx said:

That sort of behavior by the crowd is not good. Again its my opinion. You can get behind your team by encouraging slogans like 'Jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega' rather than 'Harega bhai harege Pakistan harege'. Off late, I have been seeing Virat Kohli encouraging the crowd to get behind the team with their clappings. He is definitely not in his sane mind, going to ask them to insult or disgrace the opponent. Like the Aloo chant.

Yes, i agree that Chennai crowd need not necessarily applaud the opposition. But the crowd behavior is measured by those gestures and since you brought out a point in one of the posts that 'there are bad boys in every stadium' I wanted to tell you that its not the case with Chennai as I have personally watched several matches there and I know the truth. They dont know to curse, they dont knoe to get under the skin. They are like the Dravids and Laxmans.

WTF ?  Why should a crowd not applaud a good innings from an opposition again ??

[Vilander]

4 hours ago, Cricketics said:

Yeah and what is this with being the  good boys and being nice to padosis when Anwar scored etc. I am fine with giving standing ovation for someone who performed etc but calling that as sportsmanship etc is all bull. It is a culture to recognize the top performance in cricket all over the world. That isn't something to be proud of. And it doesn't make one the good guys.

 

Why try to be the good guys anyway? I am not saying curse the opposition but it is good to get under their skin. Go to some tennis games and see what happens there at US Open and Australian Open when an Aussie plays an opponent at home or if John Isner or recently Jack Sock(Top American) is playing at the US Open. People try get under opponent's skin and put pressure on him.

 

I remember when we did  the"Aaloo Aaloo" chants during the Kumble 10fer test match at Kotla. Inzi became angry at us but Akram controlled him. That got to Inzi's mind. He was once about to approach someone during the Lunch break but Akram took him elsewhere. Inzi was standing at long off and Akram called him immediately back and replaced him with Youhana as Inzi looked distracted and wanted to talk to one of the guys one on one. 

applauding an opposition for a good play is not equal to not supporting your own team though.

[Vilander]

9 minutes ago, Dinx - the Jinx said:

That sort of behavior by the crowd is not good. Again its my opinion. You can get behind your team by encouraging slogans like 'Jeetega bhai jeetega India jeetega' rather than 'Harega bhai harege Pakistan harege'. Off late, I have been seeing Virat Kohli encouraging the crowd to get behind the team with their clappings. He is definitely not in his sane mind, going to ask them to insult or disgrace the opponent. Like the Aloo chant.

Yes, i agree that Chennai crowd need not necessarily applaud the opposition. But the crowd behavior is measured by those gestures and since you brought out a point in one of the posts that 'there are bad boys in every stadium' I wanted to tell you that its not the case with Chennai as I have personally watched several matches there and I know the truth. They dont know to curse, they dont knoe to get under the skin. They are like the Dravids and Laxmans.

you dont know chennai crowd. not abusing is a choice. its not that they dont know to abuse, lol you should go to seetha kuppam or dooming kuppam. they have nice slum cricket on there will certainly change your perception.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

13 minutes ago, Vilander said:

you dont know chennai crowd. not abusing is a choice. its not that they dont know to abuse, lol you should go to seetha kuppam or dooming kuppam. they have nice slum cricket on there will certainly change your perception.

Dude.. I lived most of my life in Chennai so dont tell me. What I meant was they dont know abusing cricketers in the cricket stadiums. 

[Dinx - the Jinx]

20 minutes ago, Vilander said:

WTF ?  Why should a crowd not applaud a good innings from an opposition again ??

 

19 minutes ago, Vilander said:

applauding an opposition for a good play is not equal to not supporting your own team though.

You asked the question and you answered it yourself. Thanks mate.

Yes, I totally agree with you. Applauding opposition doesnt necessarily mean you are not supporting your own team.

However many (like cricketics here) think that way and hence I replied to him that it need not necessarily be the right thing. 

[BeautifulGame]

Applauding and appreciation of opposition when then give quality performance is definition of a good crowd.

It means they understand the sport and can appreciate when quality is produced regardless by whom.

That applies not just in cricket .When Barcelona ripped apart Madrid in Bernabau few years back , everyone gave standing ovation to Ronaldinho .And that is arguably the biggest rivalry in sports .