Dear BCCI, if you’re serious about Test cricket, at least treat fans properly at your stadiums

The International Cricket Council and the various national boards have had numerous meetings to discuss ways of turning Test cricket into a consistent crowd-puller.

The number of days a game comprises of, the quality of pitches and the meaning behind the bilateral series are a few of the many points that have been blamed for the dwindling interest in the format. Those reasons could distance a fan further from the game’s purest form, but there is a basic fault in the way Test matches are treated – especially in India.

So close, yet so far from the action

The early morning winter chill in the air coupled with the excitement to watch cricket live at the stadium made the prospect of the first day of the fourth Test between India and England delectable. It was being held at the Wankhede Stadium, after all. The venue where India have competed in various memorable games over the years – the 2011 World Cup final was the most illustrious of them all. The historic relevance of the ground combined with the passionate crowd it draws for almost every game promised the most enthralling atmosphere of all the Tests in the series so far.

But almost because promises are meant to be broken, the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the Mumbai Cricket Association ensured that the Wankhede’s promise of a riveting day of action was stuck in a damp squib. It was a sleepy Wankhede that greeted the fans early on Thursday. It was ill prepared, it was disinterested and it promised to further dent the fans’ interest in Test cricket.

The first day of the Test, which as the format of the game goes is scheduled to be played across five days, fell on a weekday. Yet, hordes of people parked themselves outside various entry gates to the stadium. They had paint on their face and paint on their hands. They had painted flags of either India or England, based on which team they supported. They even carried flags of the two nations, apart from the horns and whistles to maintain the buzz throughout the day. There were fans of all age groups – children who had bunked school, working professionals who had excused themselves from their office duties and the senior folks who had given up on their rigid morning routine. And a few of them were at the venue before 7.30 am. Most of them were at the gates by 7.30 am.

After all, the ticket mentioned 7.30 am as the time when the gates would be opened to the general public. So they were all there two hours before Bhuvneshwar Kumar would bowl the first ball. But the entrance of the gates was the furthest they could go. For the gates did not open at the prescribed time. Let alone open, in fact there was hardly anyone around to inform the people about the delay.

Lack of communication

And how would there be anybody? Because the security team that manned the gates were under the impression – lack of communication from the BCCI and MCA glared through – that the spectators were to be let in only around an hour before the game. About fifteen minutes after the clock had struck 7.30 am, a couple of private security officials came out of Gate 4 that leads into the Sachin Tendulkar stand. It provided the queued up fans hope. But it was all false hope. Because the men in uniform had walked out only to grab a quick breakfast. A few more joined them, and they discussed their travels from home to the stadium among other mundane topics.

All this while, the crowd waited there patiently without snacks, water or even a place to sit at their disposal. Soon it was beyond an hour since the scheduled time at which the gates were to be opened. The queue had grown even longer. The entrance to Gate 4 runs around the lush green outfield of the University Pavilion. It is a decent walk from the University Pavilion’s doorway to Gate 4. By now, the queue covered the entire path.

The touring fans laughed at the organiser’s inability to be punctual. The local spectators remained a frustrated lot. Eventually, under pressure from the bludgeoning crowd, the gates were opened at 8.45am.

“It was madness. I was here at 8.30am, but I had 500 people ahead of me in the queue. I thought if the gates are opening so early, it won’t be so crowded. But I had to miss the first two overs because of this,” said an unhappy elderly fan. For an international match, one would expect security of the highest order. But the moment the gates were opened, it was clear that the security arrangements were yet to be set up. People were frisked and their bags checked in a hurry. Fans were asked to pass through just one metal detector before they could make their way to their seats. No one complained after the wait in the queue, but why take a chance with security?

This is not the way to save Test cricket

Once inside, what hit one was the lack of major food outlets that are usually omnipresent during the Indian Premier League or other One-Day Internationals. The fans had to be content with the basic refreshments like samosas or sandwiches. Not like all that was available would set your tongue wagging either. “I bought a biscuit ice-cream, but it only had the biscuit. The ice-cream was missing,” said a young fan at the stadium.

A pizza brand finally set up a counter in the final session to break the monotony of the limited options. But by then the counters had run out of water. Yes, there was no bottled water available. Stadiums abroad serve a host of drinks – alcohol included. But the Wankhede faced a spell where it could not provide the fans, drenched in sweat thanks to the increased temperature once the sun came out, with normal drinking water. To add to the inconvenience, there was leakage in a couple of washrooms, which meant they had to be locked midway through the day. Also, throughout the day, there was no one to keep a track of whether people actually sat in their designated seats. It meant, there were constant squabbles because of the wrong seats the spectators would make themselves comfortable on.

These may have been minor hiccups on the face of it. But they piled on the frustration for most fans. People who had skipped work to enjoy a day of Test cricket had turned grumpy.

Wankhede is graced by the most passionate of cricket fans. But the ordeal of the day had deflated them. The whistles and horns rarely ran and the chants never caught momentum.

The one venue in India where Test cricket is well received got off to a false start on Thursday. It is, therefore, hardly a surprise that the first three Tests had disappointing turnouts. If such is the match-watching experience, one cannot blame crowds for not turning up in numbers for a game that is played for five days under the scorching Indian sun.

Test matches may not have the glitz and glamour or the Bollywood flavour of the IPL, but in its purity the loyalists revel. The least that the fans of cricket’s longest format hope for is a comfortable and hassle-free outing at the stadium. It is a basic requirement, but one which the BCCI and MCA failed to address on Thursday .It also meant that a sleepy Wankhede had a lacklustre crowd on Thursday.