It was an unusual Friday especially for the commuters of the Main Road when they saw massive traffic jam starting right from Rospa Tower towards the Over bridge. But the reality behind the crawling motorists came out in open after reaching Radisson Blu Hotel — the place where heartthrobs of millions of Indians were staying and about to leave for the first-ever T-20 International at JSCA.
Hundreds of college goers, girls from as prestigious institute as IIM-R, from schools and also coming in from the places like Jamshedpur were waiting on the road to take a glimpse of members of team India. Quite expectedly, when the players one by one rode the bus loud cheer saw-off them ahead of the crucial encounter.
It turned out to be crucial as the home team surrendered quite comprehensively to the Sri lankans at Pune by five wickets in first match of the series and up against the spirited islanders who were bound to nail the mighty team India ahead of big-ticket tournaments—Asia Cup and World T-20 soon ahead.
“I just want to click Yuvraj. He is so handsome and I have not seen him even from front. It was like dream coming true for me,” said breathless teen Yogika of IIM who along with her classmates was standing at the traffic post near the Hotel.
The euphoria was not centric only to the shelter of the team but also oozed on allover the streets leading to the marvellous stadia at picturesque Dhurwa. Groups of youngsters, families and students were seen rushing for the evening encounter as everyone wants to occupy his chair as soon as possible. The hurry led to several brawls with traffic police who were sweating out in diverting the herds from one road to another.
“They are enjoying but it is a headache for us. We have clear instruction not to allow two-wheelers on this way but no one is listening to us. It is a touch time for the policemen,” complained Bajrang Singh, a constable posted with his colleagues at Dhurwa Gole Chakkar. Nevertheless, adequate security arrangements were in place for the match on the all the routes leading to the JSCA.
It was also a cheer time for street vendors selling Indian flags, fancy cricketing headgears, face paints in tri-colour and tees named after Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina among the others. Though, the match was scheduled to start at 7.30 pm the buzz was around from quite early.
The atmosphere was unforeseen inside the ground as it nearly filled all the stands barring some vacancies in VIP enclosures, and higher priced ticket chairs. Most of the wings were packed with fans waiving Indian flags and cheering whenever any player comes near to the fence during the practice session and warming up.
Moreover the crowd was firstly most interested in knowing the result of the toss which went to rival Sri lanka. Nevertheless, they got a blessing in disguise when team India invited to bat first and got an electrifying start. The team went unchanged by the local-lad MS Dhoni who mentioned about his pleasant stay at his home for two days; the occasion quite rare for the cricketing icons like him.
Besides glancing at their dear players closely the fans were also curious about working style of support staffs, commentators, media and TV coverage crew and ground staffs. They were restless unless the teams ascended to the ground to create a history in making for Ranchi: advent of T-20 International.