A spectacular Opening Ceremony ushered in the second edition of the Indian Cricket League in Hyderabad. There was good spectator support. A. Joseph Antony reports.
Jason Gillespie, shorn of his famous locks, glared from behind a truck. A charged up Chris Cairns stared from a mineral water bottle. These became common enough sights in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, where the second season of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) got underway.
If marketing mechanisms were an indication of the event’s success, the in-stadia advertising itself at the Lal Bahadur Stadium was impressive. An even more reliable pointer was spectator attendance and on that count, the ICL looked like it was here to stay. The crowds came in especially for games involving the Hyderabad Heroes, the home side and the Lahore Badshahs. People-friendly ticket prices should have been a good reason for the fans to come flocking.
The elements, too, did their bit, heavy rain calling a halt a day before the action unfolded. The cheerleaders may have been a draw too, caught in close up by cameramen, swaying their hips to match the girls’gyrations, foot-stomping music providing a rhythmic backdrop.
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) got off to a pulsating start, Shiamak Davar’s base drum banging troupe lighting up the dark arena. School children in shimmering costumes emerged from blooming flower formations as spotlights and laser rays knifed towards a starless sky, the arena ablaze in glitter. Saffron-clad, clean-shaven Shaolin monks with sticks in hand then enthralled a fairly large turnout with some gravity defying stunts. Flaming torch-bearers spewed fire meanwhile.
Traditionally attired children, men and women then converged on the arena while avoiding the cordoned off square. Bearing the flags of the nine teams, they lined up along the boundary ropes, waving and welcoming the players in their colourful costumes as they waited for the introduction. Remixes rent the air, ranging from Hindi movie hits to Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, “where music and passion were always the fashion.”
The piece de resistance was a helium-balloon borne lady acrobat or aerialist, cartwheeling from below the sphere, descending to the assembly of players, and taking a rose from one of them.
The carefully choreographed show began behind schedule, but the delay seemed worth the while. Kapil Dev, Chairman, ICL, said it would be a tough call to replicate last year’s show, while Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy urged the game’s followers to enjoy cricket as much as the famed biriyani the city was known for.
Former AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said cricketers were the real heroes, not those from tinsel town. He longed to see the day when India would scale the pinnacle in world cricket. Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Essel Group, wished the participating teams the very best.
A short but spectacular fireworks display had heads turned heavenwards. The second season of the Indian Cricket League had arrived, barely six months after the success of its opening edition.
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