My First Cricket Match

A few days before returning to India I received a note from friends indicating that they were planning to attend the Delhi Daredevils' season finale and wanted to know if we wanted in. The Daredevils are Delhi's representation in cricket's Indian Premiere League (IPL). Even though we returned from the US just a day before, "attend a cricket match" was on the India "to do" list. It seemed an opportune time to take them up on the offer and finally get to a match. Plus, I wasn't sure there'd be many more opportunities.

IPL is a more "commerical" variety of cricket and lasts for 20 overs (which typically takes about three hours to complete). This format is much more viewer-friendly than the longer 50 over format of One Day Internationals (ODI) favored by the latest world cup won by India and much, much more viewer-friendly than the five day test matches favored by the staunchest cricket traditionalists. Having only basic understanding of the rules and having watched only a few ODI's, I can say that the 20/20 version seems fast, hurried, and a little too full of offense. I can understand where people that grew up watching the game might not like the format. ESPN published this article titled "Why You Should Care About Cricket" and I recently heard the author, Wright Thompson, on one of Bill Simmons' podcasts basically pose the question, "how would you feel if the NFL suddenly decided to shorten their games to fifteen minutes?" You get the point.

Having not checked the standings, I didn't realize tonight's game between Delhi and the Pune Warriors of India was actually a battle to see who wouldn't finish in last place in the league. Unlike soccer's English Premier League (EPL) where the lowest finishers are sent to a lower league, there is no risk of relegation in the IPL, which would have made the stakes higher than just playing for the pride of not finishing last.

Not cheap, even by American ticket standards, I was surprised that our Rs. 1750 (around $40) entrance only granted access to a general admission section in the northwest stands of the Feroz Shah Kotla cricket grounds. We arrived just as the match started and couldn't find seats (at least with a view) on the ground level. We were told there were seats in the upper deck, so we climbed to the top of the stadium and found a fairly empty section. The only down side was that we couldn't see the entire boundary (this is a little like when you're at a baseball game and can't see the entire outfield from your seat). The only other ticket options were Rs. 17,500 or Rs. 25,000. Do the math based on the conversion rate implied by my Rs. 1750 ticket and you can understand why we went with the general admission option.

The stadium was dressed up for the IPL though still wasn't in the best condition. I remarked to the wife upon leaving, "the stadium was kind of a piece of shit." She was more diplomatic, saying it was probably as nice as most minor league baseball stadiums (though in the 10+ years I've known her I've never known her to attend minor league baseball so I wasn't exactly sure what prompted the comparison). Regardless, it had a field, it had seats, so there's really not too much to complain about seeing as how it was my first live sporting event in India (at least the first one that required a ticket).

The stadium aesthetics notwithstanding, the atmosphere within was extremely festive and, not surprisingly, the crowd was pro-Delhi. Even with the pro-Delhi sentiment, I get the general sense with the IPL that people follow the players more than the teams. After all, it's a made-for-TV two-month season and only in its fourth year of existence. It's a great way for cricket's stars to get a little more visibility and also earn a little extra money (the best cricketers make a lot of money; however, cricket isn't nearly as monetized as other sports so outside the Sachin Tendulkar's and MS Dhoni's of the world, you don't see nearly as many astronomical salaries as you might in the EPL or many of America's major sports leagues). Much like other sporting events, there were cheerleaders that would dance on platforms between overs and when boundaries were scored. There was also advertising on the field. The coolest part of the on-field advertising is that it's stretched in real-life so that it appears correctly based on the angle of the camera on television. In other words, the Citibank logo was much taller and skinnier in person than it appears to the average television viewer. I wish I had gotten a decent picture, but being a little too much of a rule follower, I took the "no cameras allowed" notice a little too seriously. Very few others did.

About midway through the Daredevils innings (i.e., their set of 20 overs), it started to sprinkle. This wasn't that surprising since it was pouring down rain as we left Gurgaon to head to the match. What was surprising was that I, even though I knew it was pouring earlier, though enough to bring a rain coat yet still decide to leave it in the car. With sprinkles, not such a big deal. With the showers that followed, not so bright. Thankfully, there was enough cover for those that wanted it. However, since much of the stadium was general admission, as soon as the rain would slow, the masses would race down for the best seats. As soon as the rain came back, they'd vacate as quickly as they had left.

After 45 minutes of waiting out the rain entertained by those fans dancing in the rain with the Indian shoulder bob (it's one of sports greatest celebratory dances, famous round the world, or at least famous in countries where cricket is played), we decided to call it quits. The rain was slowing but the flashes of lightning made sitting in a grandstand, even though it was primarily concrete, not the best of ideas. At least we had seen a little bit of action but, as our friend Jay pointed out, even if it stopped raining we were probably another hour away from seeing any additional action. As a result, we made our way for the exit turnstiles. Since we were leaving before the game was official, we were forced to show our tickets, which seemed a slow process to exit the stadium and a process you'd hope they would abandon in the event of an emergency.

On the bright side, we made the right decision. Shortly after leaving, the match was called on account of the weather and we were able to quickly move away from the stadium. On the down side, since there was no result, I now live in a region forced to lay claim to the IPL's cellar dwelling franchise.

ICC Cricket World Cup

In a country where cricket is king winning the cricket world cup is understandably a big deal. Last night India did just that on home turf in Mumbai.

Cricket is still a sport where the highest level of the game is played at the national team level and country matters first. India is also a country where there no other sports. Hypothetically, in the US, the national basketball team could only be as big of a deal if:

• the best players consistently played on the team rather than only when public pressure built to the point where they're basically forced
• players' careers were measured in titles won with the national team instead of a club team
• there were no other sports to watch
• the population of the US suddenly quadrupled

Saturday's final seemed a little like the US ice hockey team at the 1980 Olympics. Casual sports fans remember the US beating Russia and that the US won the gold. Those casual fans don't realize that the US actually won the gold with the next game by beating Finland. It's not that India anything like the underdog that the US was; it's that this cup will be more remembered for the game that got them to the final than the final itself. Wednesday's semi-final just seemed bigger. It was more anticipated and, let's be honest, just had the feel of a bigger event.

On Wednesday, India played Pakistan. I joked on Facebook that this rivalry was a little like the sports rivalry between New York and Boston if only both cities felt they had a right to Rhode Island and Connecticut. With all due respect to the Yankees/Red Sox, Ohio State/Michigan's and Duke/North Carolina's out there, I'm not sure there's a more heated rivalry in all of sports. There certainly isn't a rivalry that unites more people (I know, there are 1.2 billion people in India; however, how often do you get 99%+ of any number of people to agree on anything much less 1.2 billion people).

The format of the world cup was basic One Day International (ODI) rules, which amounts to a 50 over match. An "over" is a set of 6 bowls (i.e., pitches), so in effect each team gets 300 attempts to score. As a result, the match typically takes around 8 hours to play. Yep, 8 hours. All the matches started at 2:30pm IST, which for Wednesday's Pakistan match was right in the middle of the work day. To try and stem absenteeism, large screens were placed in the cafeterias. It worked to some extent but safe to assume that productivity was low. All afternoon, from three floors above the cafeteria, I constantly heard cheers erupting whenever India scored.

Personally, I left the office around 6:30pm when India had finished batting to watch Pakistan chase from home (unlike baseball where teams alternate batting throughout the game; in cricket one team bats their entire game, called "innings", and then the other team tries to chase). Even the apartment complex had a feeling of community as a large screen was set up on the lawn to accomodate the expected crowd. We filled a cooler with some beverages and headed down with our friends to watch.

Wednesday evening at our complex

The lawn was divided into two primary groups. A set of tables and chairs for the residents near the screen and a section of drivers, off duty guards, and other domestic help sitting on a small knoll in the back. Unfortunately, very class centric. It was on this knoll where both our drivers watched the game. I think they were just relieved that we were also watching so that they could as well (for Saturday's final, Kailash very politely probed about what our plans were that day and seemed quite relieved that I told him he'd be finished in time to watch the second half of the match).

Our driver's Kailash and Ashok, India captured a wicket seconds after this shot, explaining Ashok's refusal to look at the camera

In what I'm hoping was the drivers and guards attempt to stick it to the rich people, they were listening on radio. The television feed was on about a three second delay. As a result, anytime something good happened, they would erupt prematurely before those in the front would react. I loved it.

Obviously, India won that match and then successfully chased down Sri Lanka last night. Well I have no long-term allegiance to the Indian cricket team, I'm most anticipating how excited everyone at the office will be on Monday. While I'm by no means a cricket expert, it's amazing how much more enjoyable it is to watch when you understand the basic rules and scoring. Do I need to go sit in the stands for a 5-day test match? Probably not. Would I go see a quick 20 over Indian Premiere League match this spring? Absolutely.

Cricket Explained?

Having been here for over eight months, I decided it was finally time to try and understand cricket. Coincidentally, Friday marked the beginning of the Champions League which continues cricket's complete copy of the European soccer model (i.e., India has a "Premiere League" for club teams and now a Champion's League much like the UEFA event). The brand of cricket played in the Champions League (or CLT20) is 20/20, which is the made for TV version (i.e., a match last a couple hours and not five days). I'm happy to report that I might just understand how the game is played (though the terminology I use through the rest of this post is probably less than official).

In 20/20, each team gets to bat for 20 overs. Each over contains 6 balls which means each team gets 120 attempts to hit. Each team has around 10 people that bat. A person bats until they're considered out. So it's possible (though probably unlikely) that only one person could bat for the entire game. A batsmen can be called out in one of three ways, (1) they hit a ball that is directly caught by a fielder (like a fly-out in baseball), (2) the bowler (pitcher) gets the ball past them and a wicket (the building blocks set behind the batter) gets knocked over, or (3) after making contact and starting to run, if the batter is caught between the two lines they must run between to score runs. If all batters are out before the 20 overs are complete, the team is finished batting.

The scoring is fairly simple. When the batter makes contact, he runs back and forth between a couple lines making sure to be behind a line when the ball gets returned. Most hits that stay in the park result in either one or two runs. If the ball leaves the field of play on the ground, it's considered four runs. If the ball leaves the field of play without touching the ground, it's six runs.

There's a coin flip and the team that wins the flip typically elects to bat second so they know exactly what they need to do to win. The first team bats for their 20 overs (or until everyone is out) then the second team does the same. The team with the most runs wins. Pretty simple.

If you see a score for a team that reads 169-3, it means that a team scored 169 runs and that three of their players were out. So even if one team has 169-3 and one has 182-5, the team with 185 wins even though they had more players out. If one player scores 100 runs before making an out, it's called a century and is a big deal.

Now that I've mastered 20/20 cricket (or at least enough that I think I know what's going on; I could be completely wrong), here's a few random observations from my first extended viewing experience:

• Commercials tend to happen at random times and happen quite frequently. Many commercials are just promotions for the CLT20.
• The best commerical is for Kingfisher Premium Drinking Water. The commercial shows a number of players from various teams and ends with the slogan, "Divided by teams, united by Kingfisher." Effective marketing made even more so because Dr. Vijay Mallya, the Indian Richard Branson, is basically able to use his airline and drinking water to indirectly market his beer. Genius.
• Even the Indian teams have cheerleaders that resemble NBA cheerleaders, which is surprising considering the conservative nature of the culture. I guess what makes it appropriate is that there appears to be very few Indian cheerleaders.
• I've decided that I am a Mumbai Indians fan. When else in life will I have the opportunity to root for a team called the Indians and not have to justify the social implications of the team name?
• The Indians best player is Sachin Tendulkar. From what I can gather, he's kind of a big deal and has both the stats of a steroid-aided Alex Rodriguez and the class and integrity of Derek Jeter. Earlier this year he recorded cricket's first double century.

I have no idea how much I really understand and I could easily be wrong on a lot of this stuff; however, even with my understanding as it stands right now, I can appreciate where the game might be more exciting than the ground-ball home run derby I previously understood it to be.