When the Brabourne Stadium final hosted an Indian Premier League match in 2015, the stands have been crammed to their full capability, each groups had their very own units of cheerleaders and there have been no restrictions of masks and sanitisation for followers.
As the stadium owned by the Cricket Club of India (CCI) hosted its first match IPL match after a spot of almost eight years with Mumbai Indians taking up Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022 on Sunday, the situations have modified quite a bit.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, solely attendance was restricted to solely 25% of the stadium’s capability, thus leaving many seats empty. There have been no cheerleaders and the match was being performed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and never the franchise as earlier. The spectators have been allowed in as per Covid-19 protocols of BCCI and the gamers are in a bio-secure bubble.
“We stay up for coming again to Mumbai, the crowds come out in massive numbers. Obviously some restrictions when it comes to capability however good to see crowds,” said Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma at the toss.
But some things were the same — the stadium was a sea of blue with the colours of Mumbai Indians visible here and there. Though Rohit Sharma had said before the start of the match that it was an ‘away’ match for his team as their home ground is the Wankhede stadium, there was still a lot of support for the Mumbai-based team.
Also in focus on Sunday was the lack of facilities for fans at cricket stadiums in India as some spectators were not impressed with the seating arrangements in stands, complained about the chairs provided in the stands.
A fan named Sanchit Desai, with the handle @sanchitd43, tweeted a picture of the plastic chairs in the stands and said better arrangements should have been made.
“Surely for 3K ticket prices, acche seats toh de dete. WTF Brabourne?” he tweeted.
Another fan, Vinesh Prabhu (@vlp1994) tweeted the {photograph} of plastic chairs within the East Stand and mentioned it was a bit “unfair” for the fans to expect the fans to sit on those chairs in the hot and humid conditions. (The East Stand does not have a roof, the West Stand has).
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“England had made temporary stands during the WC. “I don’t know how far it’s possible here but after paying 3000-3500 Rs, I think sitting on plastic chairs and that too in this extremely hot weather, is a bit unfair
“Not complaining though but there needs to be a solution,” he tweeted.
Another fan referred to as Ibrahim (@iBM1105) tweeted: “And folks have been trolling Shadi wale kursiyan in Pakistan (laughing face emoji) Wtf is that this in Brabourne stadium. Aur @ImRo45 bhai ye hai tumhare metropolis okay 3-4 stadiums. Mast hai (laughing face emojis).
Despite the obvious discomfiture, the ambiance within the stands was festive with die-hard Mumbai cricket followers having fun with watching their first match from a stadium after a break. With it being a Sunday, there have been sufficient folks across the stadium that had come to soak within the cricket ambiance.
Like a younger fan from Kolkata within the East Stand that claimed to be the largest fan of Shane Watson, a former IPL star participant who’s now assistant coach of Delhi Capitals. The fan was holding a placard with “Biggest fan of Watto from Kolkata. Here just for my Idol Shane Watson” written on it.
So all in all it was a festive atmosphere at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai despite the problems faced by some fans.
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