Last few days have been eventful in Ahmedabad. First, it was the arrival of President of India Hon. Ramnath Kovind and the home minister Motabhai Amit Shah who is the biological father of BCCI secretary and crown prince Jay Shah and both of whom have been the past GCA head honchos to formally “launch” the Motera stadium. Mr. prime minister Narendra Modi under whose GCA presidency, the foundation of this largest stadium was laid and hence who was named as the name bearer of this marvel was not present. Enough has already been written about the greatest cricketing stadium and the state-of-the-art facilities.
Cricket took precedence and action shifted to the sacred twenty-two yards. Toss was won by England and everyone expected a battle for the world test championship as the storyline preceding the game was that series was tied 1-1 and England had everything to play for and they did not have to be intimidated by the presence of Sabarmati Ashram which their biggest nemesis called home, or they were in the state of the Iron Man (sorry not the Marvel one) Sardar Patel who had foiled their plans of dividing India after independence. This was the same stadium where now the ex-President of United States had done his largest rally in Namaste Trump roadshow.
This was just the second pink ball test in India and the first one was in the legendary Eden Gardens; however, that was against Bangladesh while this was the against the founding fathers of the beautiful game. This game was everything the world was waiting for and few weeks back, India had managed to bat through the fifth day resulting in a draw and everyone had started believing in the longest and the truest format of the game again. Test cricket had been on ascendancy and GCA had even agreed to offer 50% of the seats which is more than the full capacity of more than 85% of the stadiums of the world and the cricket loving Gujaratis had packed their 5 days of khakhras, dhoklas and rolled theplas to satiate their hunger while they gorged on the battle royale. Battle royale even had singing of the God Save the Queen to kick off the proceedings and the Indian National Anthem. The milestone man Ishant Sharma who was suiting up in India whites for the hundredth time was awarded his hardware.
Action finally began after completing the formalities. India was playing two Gujarat team cricketers and they both would be in action on the first day. Ishant Sharma stuck soon but it was the day that belonged to the local Gujarati boy Axar Patel for most part and he was one of the earliest names on the new honor board of Motera. India ended the first day in a rather strong position and everyone was expecting Englishmen to show some fight and they did for the first part. They had an unknown star in their captain who also showed up with the ball in their hands, and Englishmen were back. They just had to bat a bit better in the second essay and we would have a game on hands as Englishmen would get their last shot at bowling and batting in 4th innings on Indian pitches is never for the faint hearted.
Axar and another milestone man Ravi Ashwin though had different plans and they ensured that another local boy Jaspreet Bumrah was paid this time for resting and would not be deprived off his salary. Axar ensured India did not miss another Gujju boy Ravindra Jadeja and turned up another performance which would have made the entire state proud. When the opposing Congress party was fighting over the name change from Patel to Modi, Axar had name Patel enshrined on honor board twice.
This turned out to be the shortest completed test match ever played in India and it was an irony of sorts that it was played in the largest stadium of the world. Cricket fans across the world and in countries like America, where they had finally relegated to the fact that someone can actually play the same game for 5 days and at times, both teams can shake hands and there may not be a winner, here came a curveball in the American jargon. The game lasted 5 sessions and not 5 days. With the impending bubble stay and the next test to be played at the same venue, teams cannot travel anywhere either. None of them could leave the bubble to visit their families (even the local boys) as that would subject them to protocols again.
The English cricketers of the yesteryears jumped to the defense of their team and overlooked their inability to cope up with the straight and spinning ball or for that matter, their team selection gone wrong as they prepared for reverse swinging the pink ball and not take the pitch into account. They all thought they may be able to make Indians pink with their scathing criticism and save the blushes for their team. Nothing of that happened as Indians put up a strong front to protect their pitch. Maybe the teams will get time to explore the state of the art facilities at Motera.
To borrow and modify a famous dialog from Shah Rukh Khan movie, Bade Bade stadiums mein aisi chhoti chhoti games hua karti hai Senorita…
