Who cares for the cricket fan in India?

When the Pune franchise for the Indian Premier League was announced recently, I felt a chill go up my spine. The chill was a result of the memories of my visit to the Nehru Stadium in Pune several years ago to watch a one day international cricket match between India and Australia. The bad feeling had nothing to do with the result of the match, which was won by Australia in a canter, thanks to a magnificient Mark Waugh hundred. The chill originated from how shabbily the paying cricket public was treated at the stadium that day.

Cricket is big in India, which is without any doubt the commercial hub of world cricket. At the root of this tremendous commercial success of cricket in India is the huge fan following enjoyed by the sport. Over the years this fan following has been exploited brilliantly by the BCCI and the media and they have managed to squeeze just about every rupee from the sport. And then the IPL came along and made this money-making machine an order of magnitude bigger. However somewhere the paying cricket fan at the stadiums has been forgotten. Which brings me back to my experience at the Nehru Stadium in Pune.

I had purchased an expensive ticket that day, and fully expected to have a great view of proceedings. When I entered the enclosure in the stadium it was a shock. Makeshift chairs were lined up in the enclosure. We were going to watch the game from the point/straight midwicket area - not the greatest of views. I was told that most of the prime seats were given away to MCA/BCCI and other officials. Our enclosure had one small entrance only which allowed maybe 2-3 people to pass through at one time. I shuddered to think what would happen if there was an emergency and people had to be evacuated - a stampede at the narrow gate was the most likely scenario.

And here is the clincher. At some point in time during the match I needed to go to the washroom. When I made my way outside, and found a run down part of the building that housed the washrooms, to my horror the place had a big padlock on the door. The washrooms were under maintenance! When I asked one of the stadium guards where the other washrooms were, he told me that my only option was to go to the street outside to relieve myself! This was the state of affairs at an international match being played in a country that is the commercial hub of the sport. Even though we now have some modern stadia like the one at Mohali, I suspect that the above state of affairs still exists at most cricket venues in the country.

I promised myself that winter morning that I will never again go to a venue to watch a cricket match in India again.

And that brings me back to the new Pune IPL franchise. There is a new cricket stadium being built outside Pune that is likely to be used for the home games of the franchise. I know it may be too much to ask, but do hope that the paying public is at the top of the stakeholder list for the stadium.