Chennai Super Kings (CSK) players were more visible within the State capital till the beginning of their match with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), on Friday.
The team members enjoyed visiting the nearest shopping complex and gathering at their captain’s home. Ranchi was the first Indian venue for Indian Premiere league-7 (IPl-7).
The team’s captain cum resident of the city, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, organised a dinner for his team mates
on Thursday.
Prior to this party, most of them were seen practicing at Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) stadium on Thursday.
KKR players on the other hand were more confined to their accommodation at five star hotel Radisson Blu as half of their team arrived on Thursday while the remaining ones reached few hours before the starting of the match.
“We tried to locate the players outside the hotel. Surprisingly, two or three CSK players were shopping at Big Bazaar. Watching these international players face to face was a great feeling,” said a youngster who was willing to have a glance of these players since Wednesday when the team arrived here.
Sources acclaimed that the delay in arrival of KKR players gave them less time to practice in the stadium.
“We finally saw all the players of both the teams in the stadium during the warm up minutes just before the match,” said sources.
Notably, because of the scorching heat and high
ticket price, many of the spectators tried to return their tickets till Friday morning. Even the pleasant weather by afternoon failed to attract full crowd in the stadium.
According to spectators, this time few hawkers were seen selling flags, caps, wigs and t-shirts of both the
franchisee teams.
“The strength of spectators is comparatively less than 2013. last year, large numbers of people from the State and neighbouring State Bihar were here since Ranchi was hosting IPl for the first time. Even, the sale of team’s merchandises is less this year,” said a city based corporate professional who was watching the IPl match here for the
third time.
Denizens of Ranchi will get the second chance to watch this league on May 13 between CSK and Rajasthan Royals which would be the 37th match of this season.