Melbourne cricket ground home of Melbourne cricket club is world famous. many memorable matches other than cricket have been played on the very same ground. the Austraian Football League finals is also played here. it is REALLY a huge ground and also holds the record for the maximum number of light towers (six) on any sporting avenue.
we got up early (by weekend standards) and after having the same quick breakfast of corn flakes headed out to the stadium. it is at a walkable distance from our apartment and the weather didnt appear bad either for a good walk. No sooner than we crossed the yarra river we could see australian fans pouring in at the stadium with their flag on their backs. we had thought of buying indian flags at the merchandise shop in the stadium but the patriotic australians (poor marketing skills) had nothing remotely indian at that shop.
The stadium can be seen amidst the skyscrapers of melbourne and looks really magnificient even from a mile away. no sooner did we enter the stadium we could see handful of players from both teams practising at the nets. i saw Dravid for the first time in real life practising his famous straight drive.
we knew it would be crowded and so walked in to know where we were to seat. the stadium looked even more wonderful inside than from outside. with lucious green grass trimmed perfectly it looked welcoming to the eyes. but today a battle was about to be fought and it would be gladiators in there who will be fighting for their country and fame if not for life. it was empty when we took our seats but later aussie families covered us from all sides. though i would have liked to be seated with indian fans i had no complaints whatsoever when the aussie girls were so beautiful in the front row.
the coin was tossed and australia won it, deciding to bat first. we were a little disappointed even though we get to see all indian players at once if india fielded. But indian bowlers are not as good as the the indian batting line up and it was saddening that we will not be getting to see the maestro strike boundaries of brett lee's bowling.
the first half was boring and the sun scorching in all its fury. my jeans was burning and it was hotter in the ground than the weather department had predicted. we could not sit any longer and the sadder part is that niky had booked our seats in the dry area (damnit). so we had to walk out to grab a beer and discussed india's poor bowling attack and the hot sun burning us.
till lunch we had got ourselves burnt under the sun and the indian team was not having any luck on the field as well. i was even wondering to walk back home to watch it in the comforts of home. but what happened post lunch made the day fruitful than we wanted. india struck with the first wicket and then the mighty australians were humbled by anil kumble's bowling attack. even the shade fell on our heads and we started enjoying the match. indian players gave us plenty of opportunities to cheer and scream at the top of our voices and it felt so good doing this in a foreign land.
the australian supporters had their own way of entertainment. they would start mexican waves even though it was banned and the commentators kept warning that initiators will be thrown out of the field. in addition to that big plastic balls were tossed around and the security guys had a tough time grabbing them from the spectators. i also got a chance to punch one of the many balls tossed around. some of them even made it to the ground. if this was not enough two drunk australian fans ran madly on the ground. the first one didnt make it too far but the second one bisected through the pitch and was later overpowered by the police. the penalty for that short life of fame and madness is 6000 dollars.
once indians got six wickets we thought it was worth the effort of coming to the stadium and getting burnt in the sun. but indian bowlers kept getting more wickets and we got more hungrier. at the end of day inidan team had got 9 wickets.
as we walked back we again got to see dravid practising (man he works hard) with robing singh bowling in the nets. all of us stopped to see this at an even closer view. the australian supporters also were there and they were sledging even worse than the australian team players. Dravid kept smiling and kept practising. when we decided to leave i shouted all the best dravid and walked back. Santy mentioned i should have told that in my native language as dravid and i were from the same indian state, Karnataka. i thought that was a good idea but just hoped that dravid performs well the next day to shatter the words of australian supporters.
we had quick showers at the apartment and then left for the boxing day shopping spree hoping to buy any remaining stocks. the eventful day had come to a close and i only wished indian team lived to the expectations of their fans.
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| MCGBoxingD |
1 comment:
Nice Blog
I think Dravid was still Practicing in the match -- Both the innings
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