After a largely toss-decided run-fest that was the Bengaluru leg, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) moved to New Delhi for the second half. Over two weeks, the tournament saw twists and turns akin to the winding galis of Purani Dilli (Old Delhi) as fortunes turned for some and dipped for others, culminating in a nervy final week that saw Royal Challengers Bangalore take home its maiden WPL crown.
The diary took the flight to Delhi with grand plans to strike a balance between sightseeing and watching cricket at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the evenings. It is safe to say that the plan came to fruition only in the final week, much like RCB’s title fortunes, which turned from a mid-table finish to the champion’s podium in seven days.
With a few colleagues across publications for company, the WPL accreds drew questions every day from the e-rickshaw or cab drivers ferrying us to the ground at the Feroz Shah Kotla premises, with many thinking it was preparations for the Indian Premier League (IPL) that were drawing crowds to the venue.
The diary decided to step into the daunting world of shopping in Delhi’s famous markets with a first pitstop at Janpath. Despite having a Delhi native along (for moral support and protection from being fleeced), shopkeepers had a knack for targeting the diary with higher prices, like they could sniff the non-Delhiite around them.
The hour before a game was spent getting to know some of the fans. Many had only ever heard of Smriti Mandhana. There were big Ellyse Perry fans and the odd Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, and Jemimah Rodrigues admirers as well. However, when quizzed about who the five-time World Cup-winning captain (Meg Lanning, skipper of Delhi Capitals) participating in the tournament was, nine out of 10 wore puzzled looks.
Fans outside the Arun Jaitley Stadium ahead of an WPL match. | Photo Credit: Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
And so it was particularly delightful to run into Sneh Rishav, a student from Delhi School of Journalism, who turned out to be a Lanning encyclopaedia, rattling out stats and milestones from her career like a town crier would in announcing the impending arrival of royalty. There was even a time when retired South African cricketer Dane van Niekerk supporting her wife Marizanne Kapp in Delhi Capitals, walked through the busy peripheries of the Kotla largely unrecognised.
Early on in the Delhi leg, the diary spotted several knock-off jersey sellers plying their wares on the roads leading to the stadium gates. Meera Didi was one of them. She has been travelling to almost all India matches she can afford to go to over the last 25 years and has taken a particular liking for women’s cricket over the last three years. She travels with other vendors like herself. Four of them shared a guesthouse near the Arun Jaitley Stadium, where they paid a total rent of Rs. 800. Meera can’t read or write and has been depending on journalists to guide her on which names to get printed on jerseys. She was among only three hawkers to have women’s names on the jerseys (Smriti, Jemimah, and Harmanpreet), all of which sold out during the first two days of the Bengaluru leg.
Meera Didi has been travelling to almost all India matches she can afford to go to over the last 25 years and has taken a particular liking for women’s cricket over the last three years. | Photo Credit: Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
After a few days, the police cleared the roads to allow an easier flow of people through the narrow lane around the stadium, leaving these sellers with no place to go. The case was the same for a few face painters, who were not allowed to settle near the gate entrances. One of them even decided not to return, declaring it was just easier to return for the IPL when such restrictions would not be applied.
Another mandatory pre-match ritual was a verbal tussle with the police stationed outside the stadium. Accreditation cards did not suffice to convince them that the diary was a member of the press. “ Do press wale andar chale gaye. Aap kaise keh rahe ho ki aap press ho? (Two members of the press are already in. How are you claiming to be from the media?)” and “You can get in, sure. But no laptop,” were some of the responses from the cops with slightly infuriating shrugs when asked how the diary was to file the reports without laptops.
A Delhi Capitals game against UP Warriorz left reporters particularly chagrined. DC’s lower end, composed of Indian players, botched up what looked like a comfortable chase, losing against UP Warriorz by a solitary run. It brought back memories of the 2017 Women’s World Cup final, where the Indian tail fell short in a nine-run loss to England. The night was endured with some waffles and ice cream.
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That DC vs UPW game was the first of a string of final-over finishes, by the end of which the diary’s fuel tank was running dangerously close to empty. While the break day between the league stage and the knockouts was spent frantically filing stories and putting features together, the evening was spent in a soulful qawwali session at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah. The diary also got to see India Gate, the Parliament Building, and Khan Market all after dark. The next day, the day of the Eliminator, the diary managed to find some time to unwind with a trip to ‘Delhi-6’, a culinary pitstop at Kake di Hatti for the famous naans and perhaps a year’s quota of butter, and a visit to the beautiful Jama Masjid.
The diary spent the break day evening in a soulful qawwali session at the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah. | Photo Credit: Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan
On the eve of the final, the WPL had organised a light and sound show at the iconic Qutb Minar, a towering 13th-century sandstone marvel. While filing previews and researching ahead of the summit clash had eaten into the diary’s time, prompting the abandonment of the visit to the monument, it spotted a tower with projections similar to what it had seen on WPL’s social media handles in the background of a preview video recorded outside the Kotla.
In a comical sequence of events to follow, the diary and her colleagues were convinced that this was the Qutb Minar they had seen. After a few minutes spent wondering why the UNESCO heritage site was not spotted in the 10 days prior, the diary and her colleagues impulsively redirected the rickshaw, undertaking a 40-minute ride to the site. The diary reached the monument 10 minutes after the show was done, but she consoled herself by saying that she had tried. The diary proceeded to narrate this story quite proudly to her colleagues, even determined to show them this ‘Qutb Minar’ she had spotted beyond the Kotla Stadium. That it turned out to be quite an unremarkable industrial tower was enough to make the diary want to bury her head in the sand forever.
The RCB players did not sleep after winning the trophy. Neither did the diary. After a night spent documenting the evening’s events in copy, the afternoon was spent with the champion side, trying to draw out as many anecdotes about a phoenix-from-the-ashes story as possible. After spending the day in the company of veterans of the women’s game, the diary could take solace in knowing that it had one thing in common with the likes of Perry: they both just about made it in time for their flights back to their respective destinations.
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