Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad played host to the World Cup match between New Zealand and Netherlands on Monday. Notwithstanding all the negative talk surrounding organising skills of the HCA, crowd enthusiasm remained unmitigated. Yes, a manual scoreboard in this day and age as we saw in the opening Pakistan-Sri Lanka encounter too, was a shocker. The facilities are certainly not what one would expect from one of the richest sports bodies in the world.
Even though the empty galleries dampened the spirit of the players, the visiting nation did get some encouragement from the spectators. The response to these World Cup matches in Hyderabad over the last few days has been lukewarm, understandably so considering the fact that not a single India match will be played here this World Cup. Cricket enthusiasts in the city have every reason to be disappointed.
The atmosphere in the stadium was not anything like you expect in a World Cup match for obvious reasons. However, what brought cheer to fans who still chose to buy tickets for the New Zealand Vs Netherlands match was something else altogether.
It is worth mentioning here that there are two Indian origin players in the Netherlands team--a Telugu Teja Nidamanuru, born in Vijayawada and a Punjabi Vikramjit Singh. On the other side, in the New Zealand team, there's Rachin Ravindra, whose parents hail from Bengaluru. And these players seem to have breathed life into the game and the crowd. Ravindra is a centurion on debut making a massive statement against England at Ahmedabad along with Devon Conway, in what has been a breathtaking entry onto the big stage.
Every time one of these players comes to bat, the response from the crowd was mind-blowing breathing the much-needed life into the atmosphere. There were hoots and whistles for the player of Andhra origin, who received extra love from fans and commentators alike.
Hyderabadi fans never disappoint when it comes to a good game of cricket.
