I-Pee-El

I was up until 1:00 AM watching Rajasthan take on Chennai in the IPL final. It was a good game - worthy of a final. The papers say it was a "heart-stopper", but the match wasn't really ever in the balance after Rajasthan had batted through their 10 overs with Watson and Pathan still at the crease. I realize the winning runs were scored of the last ball but consider this:

1. Chennai scored 163 - I would say about 20 less than par. At about the mid-point of the Chennai innings they were 80 - odd with Dhoni and Raina batting. I would have bet on a score of 180-185. That they didn't get there is a credit to Tanveer, Watson and Pathan who really applied the brakes in the second-half of the Chennai Innings. That meant Chennai were always going to have to fight to make a match of it.
2. In the 7th over of the Rajasthan innings - Asnodkar and Akmal managed to get out, that was about the only time Chennai had a realistic chance of winning, sure Watson, Pathan and Jadeja being bowled, run out and needlessly caught added to the drama. But that's just 'B-K-T' : bekaar ka tension.
3. I thought Rajasthan paced their innings beautifully, there was always one batsman who knocked the ball around and scampered through for ones and twos, and another who slogged. When Yusuf Pathan and Shane Watson were batting, Watson would just casually flick the ball on the onside and turn over the strike to Pathan who would then tee off.
4. 8 runs in the last over, 3 wickets in hand, Balaji - the worst of the Chennai bowlers - bowling and two internationals (Warne and Tanveer) at the crease the result was never in doubt.

The match was in a stadium a couple of klicks from where I live - I could see the lighted towers on my way back and forth from the grocery store. Its a good looking stadium and the grass looks really green. But the "Pee" facilities are pretty bad.

I'd been to the first match at the stadium between Mumbai and Hyderabad - Gilchrist gave everyone a master class in one-day batting, and another between Mumbai and Rajasthan. There are no seat numbers so once you get in its pretty much a free for all. The crowd is reasonably well behaved (for India that is) - and you have a very good view of the action, I had a Rs. 1,000 ticket in the first match and Rs. 600 ticket in the second.

But I had to use the facilities in the break between the innings and there was a queue literally a mile long, when I did get to the bathroom, it was wet - with water (or so I hoped) on the floor - and the stench of thousands of people having "I-Pee-Eled" before me.

I had thought about buying a Season Ticket for the next round of IPL, especially of they hold the Mumbai home matches in Navi Mumbai - but until they do something about the bathrooms, I think I'll pass.