Cricket Game

We arrived at the Chinnaswamy stadium at around 1:30pm, Saturday Oct 9th. The Indian and Australian players had already been playing for over 4 hours. And as I write this, the afternoon of Oct 10th, they are still playing and will continue until Wednesday. Yes, indeed, the game lasts 5 days. This is the traditional format of the game, called Test cricket. However, other shorter formats have emerged, probably in order to adapt to the globalized/rapid-moving world.

Cricket is similar to baseball in that it is a team sport that is playing individually by the attacking team and collectively by the defending team. Instead of pitching for strikes, the ball is directed towards two wickets. If these are thrown down, the batter is eliminated. On the other hand, the attacking team tries to hit the ball as far as they can in order for both batters that are on the pitch (one in front of each set of wickets) to exchange their positions as many times as possible.

My personal experience with the match was mixed. I don’t understand how people enjoy watching baseball, so it was no surprise to me that after a while at the cricket game, I wasn’t as interested in watching the players, as I was in observing the stands. I believe the stadium holds around 40,000 spectators at its maximum capacity. Yesterday there was probably between 20,000-25,000 fans. Most of them Indian. Most of them men. The reason why the stadium was not full was because the Australian team was batting, and the solely goal of the Indian team was not to give away too many runs. I bet today is different story with the Indian team taking the offensive role.

Cricket, for it’s own merit, has conserved its reputation as a gentlemen’s sport. At first our group did not understand exactly what was happening on the field. And the fact that the Indian fans would applaud when Australians scored did not help us figure it out. It was also confusing when all of a sudden both teams stopped playing and abandoned the pitch. We would learn later that the players had stopped for teatime, and that they had equally stopped for lunch before we arrived at the stadium.

As a whole it was a great experience, something we will never forget. Our first cricket match. It was also delightful to feel as being part of the locals, joining them in one of their favorite hobbies. It was good to share.