The Mumbai crowd is certainly having a ball out there during the IPL matches. An indicator of this is the rising decibel levels during matches
The Mumbai crowd is certainly having a ball out there during the IPL matches. An indicator of thisu00a0 is the rising decibel levels during matches. In fact, the noise is so loud that sometimes you can't hear anything in the middle. And when their favourite son Sachin Tendulkar is batting, the sound is deafening. When Sunil Gavaskar was interviewing Tendulkar from handshaking distance during the toss, the Mumbai Indians' skipper was seen gesturing to Gavaskar indicating that he was having a problem in hearing the questions.
It is also learnt that some umpires are using sign language to communicate with batsmen. There is no "leg stump please" request from a batsman seeking guard. Instead, the umpire simply touches his side of the stumps to know the batsman's preference of middle or leg-stump guard.
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The disc jockey at the DY Patil Stadium yesterday began interacting with the crowd a good couple of hours before the start of play. Besides giving out match-related information, he was also keeping them entertained. However, he was speaking mostly in English. Even something like requesting the crowd to respect the players and officials and warning them that any comment against anyone's race, caste, creed or nationality will be dealt with severely was delivered in English. One wonders how many in the crowd understood everything he said.
Local Rayudu vs visitor Rohit
Even though the Deccan Chargers were playing their home game against Mumbai Indians in Mumbai, it was always known that the 'visitors' would get more crowd support. But the game threw up an interesting moment when Rohit Sharma, who plays first-class cricket for Mumbai and IPL for the Chargers, was actually being treated by the crowd like a visitor, while the Hyderabad-based Ambati Rayudu playing IPL for Mumbai Indians enjoyed the crowd support as though he was a local lad.
Sachin chased in dressing room?
Sources reveal that most of the Mumbai players are simply overwhelmed by the opportunity of sharing the dressing room with Sachin Tendulkar and want to make the most of their time spent with the legend. However, while the Indian youngsters are not so open with him, the foreign players keep chasing him throughout, clearing their smallest of doubts.
Ice baths, a revelation to ignorant cops
Given the recent terror threats, stringent security measures at IPL venues are important. But in their zest to play by the book, the local security agencies can overdo things. Yesterday, they prevented bags of ice needed for players' ice baths from being brought into the dressing rooms. A stressed-outu00a0
stadium official told MiD DAY that it took him a good half-an-hour to convince the cops about the players' need for ice. It would be a good idea to ensure that security officials at matches have some understanding of cricketers' requirements.
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