A VISIT TO FEROZ SHAH KOTLA STADIUM

                     

 It was 12^th of May 2017. I went to see IPL live with my parents. I was very elated as my wish to see M.S.Dhoni and IPL live was fulfilled after a long time. The match which I am talking about was held in Feroz Shah Kotla stadium between ‘Delhi Daredevils’ and ‘Rising Pune Supergiants’.

From Rohtak it takes one and half hour to reach Delhi. When we reached Delhi, we took a metro route from Mundka to Kirtinagar. Every second the distance was reducing and every second my excitement was racing up. Then we took another metro to Mandi House which went underground from the flyover track. From Mandhi House took the last metro ride till ITO which was the place where we had to collect our tickets.

We had to go to gate no.1 but by mistake we reached to gate no.3. After taking help from police we reached to gate no.1. There we collected our tickets and after that we had some food. There were many people having food, taking selfies, talking about something may be about this match only. They were as thrilled as  I was , and I could see it as they had worn the jerseys and had painted their cheeks with the abbreviation of their favourite team’s name.

From ITO we took and auto rickshaw , it was not auto rickshaw properly by the way. It works on battery. While we were on our way to the stadium, people were selling jerseys of Pune and Delhi.

We had planned to take selfies but we were not in a condition to. We were sweating very badly. Bags and bottles were not allowed there so we kept them in the cloak room, giving our hands and shoulder a little bit of  rest.

We got seated in the east side of the stadium. We came one hour before the time the match was scheduled to start but still we had to sit 8 to 9 rows away from the iron net boundary.

After placing ourselves on the most suitable place, we then started taking pictures.

All the players were warming up on the field, only Steave Smith was the player who was the closest to us. He hit a shot in our area but it was just practice so it was not that much hard or else it might have come  just in 2-3m radius of our seats. I could not spot Dhoni there. Anyway, for our entertainment they were doing some kind of quiz competition, like choose your favourite player and then they will show an interview of him on the screens.

There was another game, it was visual, you have been given three helmets and a ball. The ball is kept under a helmet and then they would shuffle it. You have to say in which helmet the ball is.

Each time the ball was in the same helmet but the screen was showing different answers; first time in 3^rd second time in 1^st and third time in 2^nd. They were also showing anti-racism message given by the cricketers.

At 7 P.M. the match started. No sooner the match started than the audience started shouting and most were standing.

We were  in such a position that all the sixes and fours were coming in our direction. So every time a shot was hit, everyone would just stand up. They were just irritating and if I talk about their services they were even worse. The ‘Chole Kulche’ papa bought were tasteless. The Kulche were not even baked properly, it tasted like bread. The water which costs about Rs.30-Rs.35 they were selling it for Rs. 60.

But altogether the match was great, memorable. The thing which made it more memorable were the cheers made by the audience; Zaheer, Shreyas Iyer, Rishab they were hooting. But they was standing like a whisper between the roars for “Dhoni”.

And after every six or wicket the screens were showing some tags like ‘Big Ben Theory’ and ‘Mishra ji Dhakkad’.

There were two boys in front of me may be, about, say, 9-10 years old. They had gone near the iron barricade and after coming they narrated, “We there waved to Shreyas Iyer and the camera man took photo”. But no one gave attention and I know Shreyas Iyer wouldn’t have given attention too. The stadium was so big that all the players were looking like ants. Only jerseys number were visible and only ‘M.S.Dhoni’ was the person whom I could spot because I knew where he was standing.[ as he is the wicket keeper]

In the middle of the game everyone switched on their flash light the whole stadium was sparkling, but we couldn’t because our phones were switched off.

I was there to support Raising Pune Super Giants,as i have been following the IPL matches since beginning, but unfortunately the team lose the game but never mind it happens at times. I am happy to see M.S. Dhoni and some great performances of the team. Winning and losing is part of game what is important is to give fight till the end.

But thoroughly the match was amazing. At 3 a.m. in the morning we reached home, Rohtak back. I switched on the T.V. The whole match was repeating and it didn’t seemed as if we were coming back watching this match live in Delhi. While I was watching T.V. I realised that the camera didn’t even focused on us. I was disappointed. All my friends were watching , so I could have asked them, “Did you see me. Was I visible when the camera focused on the seats”. I read in ‘ Fault in our stars’ “ This world is not a wish fulfilling factory” and it really isn’t.

About 3:40 A.M. I went to sleep. Whenever I woke, remembering about it, I get nostalgic and would just start to think about all the things that happen; and when I remember it I would just start narrating it to my friends and they would reply “ You have already told us about it, Shreya”.