Smell of the good ol’ days

Australians go in to the 4^th one-day match of the series at Chandigarh with a 2-0 lead and all eyes on an unassailable one. The start of the match is a good 12 hours away yet it has evoked emotions galore within me. The match is taking place at the sector-16 stadium, Chandigarh and not at the one in Mohali (PCA).

The last match staged on this ground was back in 1993, India against England, that was when as an 11 year old I saw my first cricket match at the ground. I still remember the great ease with which we entered the ground considering we (me, mom and a friend) had no tickets. Mom dressed up to match the occasion and perhaps get us inside the stadium under the ruse of students (well, she from college and us from school) who had lost their tickets

That’s precisely what happened. At the security gate, one old gentleman stood checking tickets. Time was ticking, all our attempts at getting in, finding tickets at a premium were in vain. Just then, two guys approached the security gate and called out to the old gentleman. “Bhasin uncle, saanu Baawe ne pejeya hai (Baawa has sent us)”, one look and they were in. We stood there with envy. My mom being the smart woman that she is, urged us to call out to Bhasin uncle, but the shy chickens that we were, we refused.

Scene 2, “Bhasin uncle, saanu Baawe ne pejeya hai”. What followed was a long suspecting look, through and outside the spectacles. Soft gatecrash. We were seated with care in the VIP lounge. Ma, hats off.

It was quite an interesting match, for several reasons. One of them, it was perhaps the first and the only match I saw where an announcement was made to stop the Mexican wave because it was disturbing Sachin Tendulkar who eventually succumbed to the wave for a paltry score (1, if I remember correctly). And then I remember Sidhu planting two huge sixes off the English spin bowling.

Unfortunately, that was the last match that the sector-16 stadium staged for a very long time. Reason, a world class stadium was ready in the neighborhood, Mohali, PCA as we all know it. A truly beautiful stadium with carpet like grass. In the last 14 years people from Chandigarh have only known PCA and the poor sector-16 stadium got lost in the ranks of BCCI’s redundant zonal policies.

But the sector-16 stadium will always hold a special in my heart. It was the place where I played for three years while in school, I still cherish those magical years of my life.

21 January, 1993, was the start of my affair with the sector-16 stadium and cricket.

Going with history India won the last match at this stadium, I am going to protrude my neck and say history will repeat itself tomorrow.