Cheer from the invisible fan!

A week of the Indian Premier League’s much awaited season has passed with the events on the field, more or less, following a familiar pattern. One of the most interesting aspects of T-20 cricket is that it regularly throws up close finishes and a contest going down to the last over is a very common occurrence in this format of the game. So, a couple of close games including a super-over are ‘normal’ and in expected lines. 

M.S. Dhoni, now retired from international cricket, continues to follow his “Let’s take it to the last over” approach although his three massive sixes against the Rajasthan Royals came a tad too late! Then the small matter of a few cricketers, in an era of staying ultra fit, looking like ordinary men, but that is understandable given they were ‘locked down’ for months together! “Fans, we miss you”, flashed in the stadium during the action sums it up and yes, that is the real difference!

The first week of IPL has also opened the doors to a disturbing new reality. While it’s true that large cricket stadiums get filled up only in India, cricket matches, especially in the shorter formats, without the fans in the stadium are a dampener. The auricular illusions created by ambient crowd noises in empty stadiums might be all right as a stop-gap telecast arrangement but any talk of this being the way forward is indeed disturbing. The argument that it’s only the sound that matter, irrespective of the fans being in or out of the stadium, is a bit naive. They may come a poor second to the ones watching from the comfort of their homes in terms of the numbers, but it’s the fans—the bands, the noise, the painted bodies, the flags, the Mexican waves, the energy—who give life to cricket on television! While we all follow the matches going by the “Something is better than nothing” theory, most of us do feel that it is not quite the same without the fans in the stands. 

When a youngster overcomes the jitters, holds his nerves and scores a magnificent fifty in his debut match, he needs real people in the stands to raise his bat towards and not an illusionary cheer! So does a bowler running in trying to land a perfect yorker at the death, with the match in the balance! While some of the Test series have been a big yawn, good Test contests in India see  decent crowds and the one day and T-20s have almost always been played out in packed stadiums. This also takes us to a perennial problem with Indian cricket—taking the paying spectators for granted. I remember reading a newspaper article titled “The paying spectator is soaked again” by legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar reflecting on the grossly inadequate facilities for the spectators at our stadia, years ago. Although the facilities at many stadia have improved over the years, basic amenities like toilets, car parking and even seating at many venues leave a lot to be desired. The pandemic has been a strong reminder of how precious some of those things were, which we otherwise took for granted, and it has also made us realise that sport without the fans will never be the same. Let’s hope that this is an aberration and the environmental energy and buzz return to the sport very soon!

In what has been a grim year, cricket, especially the IPL, has lost one of its major side attractions in the form of Dean Jones! Deano, whose Victorian civic pride saw him braving the sweltering heat and humidity of Chennai to a legendary 210 runs in the famous ‘tied’ Test match of 1986, was quite a character. Well ahead of his time as an aggressive limited overs player, Deano made a smooth transition from a player to a broadcaster and was loved by all for his energy, humour and often ‘no hold barred’ comments. It looked like he will be around for many more years putting a smile on the viewer’s face but his 59-year-old heart had other ideas! Dean Jones has left a great legacy and the game poorer.