Cricket Tickets

50 years of viewing Cricket matches live from the Stadium-C.K. Subramaniam's cricketing experience

Cricket matches have been a part and parcel of my life for the last 50 years as I venture out into a new era of IPL cricket.    I watched the first cricket match of my illustrious career of watching matches live from the Stadium in the year 1961 at the Corporation Stadium, Madras and my love affair with cricket has continued ever since. The first match I watched was between India and Pakistan and the last one between Mumbai Indians and  Pune Warriors at the DY Patil Stadium, Nerul.  I have witnessed how the game has changed in last 50 years. I have seen it all, the madness, commercialism and the actual game of cricket and I recount it to you in the exiting game of cricket over the last 5 decades.  In the year 2011 the game, the rules and the method of playing has changed drastically but the interest to see matches has never changed. I can see it on all five days to see test match cricket and at the same time would like to see Twenty-20 cricket at its best.  I saw the the boring series between India and Pakistan in the year 1961 on a Pongal Day and I was not able to make out the players from a distance but took a few snaps from my seat in the stands through my KODAK camera.  The players were looking just like toys and I was not familiar with the players. As a student from Chennai I could not make out the difference between India,the Home Team and Imitiaz Ahmed, the Pakistani wicket-keeper and opening batsmen of yesteryear's. When Imitiaz was batting I thought it was Team India batting as I understood from the running commentary. At present I am writing about the game for National dailies, local papers, International Magazines and Weekly Magazines.  My interest in the game never dies and I eat cricket, sleep cricket and die for the game I like most.

As a regular to matches in Chennai, then in Delhi and now in Mumbai, I enjoy the game very much sitting and seeing from the Stadium. In India as a keen cricketer and cricket fan you will have the option to see matches from square leg view, whereas people does not much about the game see from the Pavilion ticket.  That is the saddest part in present day cricket and most of the spectators on the ground does not know much about the basics of the game leave alone knowing the finer points of game of cricket.  I preserved the tickets of most of the matches seen by me in the Stadium including the last one in this year.  Cricket Tickets will be my caption if I write a book on My Cricketing Days.

The key players I come across in the last 50 years include, Hanif Mohammed, the greatest opening batsman of all time and the eldest of three brother Mushtaq Mohammed and Sadiq Mohammed.  But my memory lingers around the leg-spinner of yesteryear's Intikhab Alam, the present Manager cum coach of Pakistani side.  I still cherish the memory of Mohammed Hussain picking the ball with the help of a shoe tap in his follow through as fast bowlers never like to pick up the ball by bending their backs.  The greatest of all-rounders Gary Sobers hit a purple patch in my memory.  He was six men rolled into one. He can bowl the new ball and later on turn to left arm spin, bat down the order and still score big hundreds with his calculative hitting, Captain the side, and field at both slip for the new ball bowlers and turn to short leg when Lance Gibbs turn his arm with off-spin.  It was a treat to watch Gary at his best in India.  Tony Lewis played his first test match as captain for England and in Ferosha Kotla Delhi he made a mark with John Leaver swung the old ball to a great effect. He batted as well to help the tail to wag and become Man of the Match in his first International match is fresh in my mind.  The quick reflexes of Sriniwas Venkatraghavan taking a blinder at second slip of the blades of Barry Wood of the bowling of Bhagwat Chandrasekher was a treat to watch live from the stands. Pat Pocock was turning the ball square at Chepauk on the last day and Indian won the close match with Salim Durraini obliging his fans with big six. In 1975, Vivian Richards rocked DDCA ground with his big hitting.  However, Richards was caught behind by Farookh Engineer of S. Venkatraghavan for 12 but the umpire thought it otherwise and the Master Blaster made a workman like 192.  The series was locked at 2-2 and in the final test at Mumbai Clive Llyod made a double hundred (242) and made India to surrender the series in a six day test match.  In 1977-78 series, John Leaver applied Vaseline to get the old ball reverse swing and help England achieve an unassailable 3-0 lead in a five match test series under Tony Greig against India.  Greig praised Indian umpires saying "Indian umpires are the best in the world" and thus made them fail to oversee the application Vaseline even from close quarters.  But the best of the best test match was the one between Australia and India at Chennai in 1986.  The match ended in a tie in the penultimate ball of the match.  I was an eye witness to the tie match as I sat on all five days in the stands to witness history.  Two sportive declaration and the double century of Dean Jones helped to see a close finish.  Kapil Dev fought tooth and nail to accept a big target but Shastri foolishly took a single to expose Mannider Singh to face last two balls and the left arm spinner was out palpably our LBW of Matthews and the umpire Vikram Raju was fair enough to hand the decision in favour of Australians. Cricket is a funny game and one should have the patience and perseverance to play the game at the highest level. Srikkanth scored a scintillating hundred against the Australians on the first day of the test match and did not disappoint his fans at Chennai after State Government declared holiday to witness a quick fire innings. Srikkanth became captain but could not last long after the curtailed tour of Pakistan.  

Azharuddin's raise and fall was inevitable during the 1996 World cup semi-final. At Mumbai we lost to Australians by 16 runs after Sachin Tendulkar foolishly lost his wicket to wide ball from Mark Waugh getting out stumped.  The writing was on the wall thereafter.  When Azhar got out cheaply I made a sarcastic comment stating that the captain had gone along with Sangeetha Bijalani, the crowd appreciated my comment and said WELL SAID UNCLE. The year 2000 was traumatic as betting charges plagued Indian cricket. The Mumbai match saw India losing the initiative and losing the seires 0-2 to Hansie Cronje side.  Again, when Australians made short work of India at Mumbai, with Matthew Hayden and Gilchrist making merry of weak Indian attack a ten wicket defeat was on the cards.  But when they came back to India again after winning the series 0-2, the Mumbai match saw wickets fell like nine pins and despite weather preventing more than half days play on the opening day the match was over on the third day with India achieving a consolation win by narrowest margin. One day matches attracted more viewers than test matches and the demand for tickets increased to a great extent.  There is no special tickets for senior citizens or for Umpires and scorers in Mumbai. So it is difficult to slog it out in the stands after achieving the age of 60.  Then the next option available is seeing shortest form of the game T-20 cricket. As a veteran I could see Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers in the first edition and more recently the one sided Mumbai Indians vs Pune Warriors match at Navi Mumbai.  

The journey of seeing matches live at the stadium lasted for 50 years but the enthusiasm is not lost even after seeing matches for half a century.  The possession of tickets of all the matches is for posterity so that I can show it to my grandsons about my all time achievement.  The search for seeing more matches in the Stadium will go on for ever.  "Cricket lovely Cricket" is true and seeing the matches in the Stadium is really a treat for cricket lovers like me. The time is running fast and I am ready to see Mumbai Indians coming to the final of IPL and wish to see the final from the Pavilion at Wankhede Stadium in the 51st year of seeing crickets matches live from the Stadium.  Cricket is a passion and I loved to see the games live Stadium even at the age of 100. That's indeed a treat to watch and there is no doubt about it.