Delhi Diary

Then as things got really tight, the decibel level kept increasing, and with 16 runs to get in the last over, people were pretty convinced that Chennai had this one in the bag. Why? Not because Mahendra Singh Dhoni was batting, but because Irfan Pathan was bowling. Moment the ball was handed over to him, people were sure of the verdict. Poor old Pathan.

Security chaos
One of the blessings of the last three games at the Ferozshah Kotla is that they were played on Sundays. This applies more so to the last game, coming a day after the blasts in Bangalore.

Security, as always, verges on oppressive here, given the location of the stadium. But yesterday it was especially tight, given the scare that almost derailed the game in Bangalore.

For one, the entire Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, the Fleet Street of Delhi, was sealed off for vehicles. Apart from police and associated vehicles, no one was allowed to stop on the road.

At the same time, extra security meant more personnel, so the stretched Delhi Police fell back on recruits from the academy, who were deployed at all the checkpoints.u00a0 As is the wont of the youth, they were very enthusiastic, but with little knowledge of crowd control. So, the sum total was chaos. But given the situation in Bangalore, which resulted in the semis being shifted to Mumbai, no one was complaining.

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