On Sunday afternoon, we attended our first cricket match in which the Deccan Chargers (the Hyderabad Indian Premier League team) defeated the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Cricket is the national sport of India – it is really the only sport in India – and attending a live cricket match has been on our “to do” list once we moved to Hyderabad. Thus, we were very excited to go to our first match, but at the same time a little nervous about the crowds and unsure of what to expect. While it was extremely crowed, no parking, somewhat confusing, hotter than hell and no water . . . we still ended up having a lot of fun – and the local team won (even if it was their last game of the season and they missed the finals of the IPL.)

No Parking Lot

The Deccan Chargers play in the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Uppal east of Hyderabad. Since we live in the western part of the city it took us an hour to get to the stadium. As we got close, we noticed cars parked all along the road leading to the stadium. Then our driver says that the road the stadium is located on is closed and he would have to drop us off at the intersection. The scene was crazy with barriers, police and military surrounded by swarms of people making their way to the stadium. At this point we were a little shell shocked and questioning how much we really wanted to go to the match. Then I realized the amazing fact that there is no parking lot. The stadium is fairly new having been built in 2005 and seats over 55,000 people (the match was completely sold out as are most matches.) Yet no parking! This is insane, but we should have expected it. We decided that we were here already so we might as well try and get into the stadium.

The scenic path around the Stadium

After walking about 100 yards down the closed road we were standing in front of the stadium trying to figure out how to get in. There are 11 gates around the stadium in which you enter based on your ticket. Our gate was number 11 and we saw directions to gates 1 – 4 and 5 – 9, but no gate 11. I asked a police officer and he pointed us past him. We ended up walking around the entire stadium which was quite a task and workout. While the stadium is fairly new and relatively modern, it is old Hyderabad right up to the gates and walls of the stadium, replete with dirt, wire fences, stray dogs, stray people asking for tickets and all sorts of hawkers selling T-shirts, hats, face painting (yes there are tons of guys walking up to us with paint asking if we want our face painted) and food. My favorite were the vendors selling bottle water through the walls of the stadium. Apparently, there is no bottled water or bottles of any kind sold inside the stadium as people will throw them on the field or pitch as it is called. To get around this there are vendors selling bottles of water through the walls.

Saying the path to our gate was a hike is an understatement, we had to make our way through waves of people, vendors, rock and sandy paths, up and under wire fences, and more. We arrived though and made it through security. The security people were surprisingly nice and let the bag the kids had with water (bottled no less!) and chips through.

There are no assigned seats at the stadium, just an assigned section. Luckily, our friends had arrived before us and held five seats for us. I was concerned that it would be mayhem inside the stadium and we would need to hold onto our kids for fear of them being swept away in a raucous crowd of spectators. However, once we were seated (we had to go through one more security and metal detector to get into the section) it was very civilized with comfortable seats.

A Baseball game and a Nightclub had a Baby

I have never understood the game of cricket. However, watching it live I was able to pick up the basic flow and rules of the game. Cricket is the forefather to baseball and the similarities were apparent. The match consists of one inning in which each team bats once. Some cricket matches can last for days, but the IPL matches are only 20 overs (an over is a set of six balls thrown by the bowlers) and lasts about 3-4 hours. I will not go into all the rules but this Wikipedia article is a good overview. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket

The match was fairly exciting as there is a lot of scoring and even more cheering. It seemed like every minute hip-hop music would be blaring and the entire stadium was jumping up and down, yelling and dancing. It was as if a baseball game and a nightclub had a baby. Someone told me that the cricket matches are just an excuse to party and dance in the stands. It certainly was a festive environment (even though I did not see any alcohol sales.)

Here is the Deccan Charger theme song. There chorus of “Go Chargers! Go Chargers! Go Chargers! Go! Go! Go!” was played incessantly throughout the match.

Cheerleaders!

The most surprising thing about the cricket match were the cheerleaders. Young, blond, Caucasian women in skimpy short-shorts. We could not believe we were in India. Yet, here were these cheerleaders jumping and prancing around.

More White Mischief: http://unstoppabulls.deccanchargers.com/photo-gallery/white-mischief-gals-at-the-xenoh-event

Hot as Hell

It was extremely hot during the match. The temperature was over 110 degree Fahrenheit – the hottest day of the year so far. The breeze felt like hot dragon breath and made it even worse. We could not even buy water or soda as the concession stands ran out. Incredibly, we must be becoming acclimated because we sweated out about 10 pounds of water weight and just enjoyed the match. When I got up to leave, I noticed a huge sweat mark formed by my butt cheeks. It almost looked liked Baby Jesus . . . but I could have been delirious from dehydration at that point.

The cricket match was a success – even with all of the challenges – and a nice way to spend a late Sunday afternoon. We are looking forward to next season. Go Chargers! Go! Go! Go!